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popculturebuffet · 4 years ago

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Tex Avery Birthday Spectacular!

Hello all you happy people! And welcome to a celebration of the only cartoon director I knew as a kid and one of the finest whose ever lived, Mr. Tex Avery.

Avery is a legend in the animation industry and rightly so. Starting out at a few other studios, and loosing sight in one of his eyes due to some tomfoolery at one, Tex was annoyed with the restrctive enviorment and eventually found his way to Termite Terrace, the animated shorts wing of Leon Schislenger Productions, aka the future Warner Brothers Studios and the makers of Looney Tunes. And his impact on the franchise is vast, cannot be overstated and I only learned about just how much recently: The man created Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny, created the prototype for Elmer Fudd, and created the design for Porky we’re all far more familiar with.

Eventually though while he was happy there, his career when ended when he eventually got into a squabble with Leon schsinger over the ending of “The Heckling Hare” and left soon after. Given he got a four week unpaid suspension for it , a bit extreme given all he’d given the studio, I can’t blame him. He instead went over to MGM who badly needed his wacky energy, and thus got to go as nuts as he wanted, with creative control a better budget and the result was his peak and classic characters like Red and my personal faviorite and personal boy: Droopy. I will try and do a birthday thing for him next month, we’ll see if my rather packed schedule will allow for it. Point is I watched the guys cartoons a lot as a kid between looney tunes and his shorts being repacked for the Tex Avery show in the late 90′s, and until recently I had no idea the depth and scope of his career: The guy gave looney tunes it’s standard fourth walll breaking and made it a huge part of the industry, and he was the one to hlep htem break out of being a Disney knockoff and into what we know today. The guy has my utmost respect so today I honor him as the first animator to get one of my birthday specials: As is my standard ten shorts, my patreons get to pick one each (I now have two but she start’s next month so her benefits will too) if they so choose (Kev opted out of the porky pig one next week) and I went to my friend blah for a recomendation as he’s an avid fan of the golden age of animation and thus usually has a really good choice up his sleeve. Now that’s out of hte way join me under the cut for some shenanigans as old tex would want it that way.

1. The Gold Diggers of 49 (1935)

This was Tex Avery’s first short with warner and the first of his I could find, not ot mention his first time working with Chuck Jones and Bob Clampett, who he’d mentor and go on to be the heart and soul of Looney Tunes and define the characters Tex created. And since this is more significant than his earlier work i’m coutning it as his first. And as a start it’s.. ehhhhhhh.

I don’t blame him for it though. Most don’t hit it out of hte park their first time up to bat, and frankly the deck was stacked against him. He was saddled with Beans the Cat...

No one brak no one. He was part of an attempt by warner to create a new star as part of a Little Rascals/Our Gang style group of kids debuting in the short “I Haven’t Got a Hat”. This short is notable not for Beans, who no one cares about, but for the debut of Looney Tunes first star: Porky Pig. Porky was just one of the various characters but the only one audiences really liked. It took some time for Warner to get the hint though, hence Beans starring here and Porky playing his girlfriend’s father.. and also now being much older than him for some reason.

So instead of being a Little Rascals ripoff bean is now a mickey mouse ripoff, as the short gives me mickey mouse vibes.. but without the things that made those shorts actually good and feels mostly built on studios trying to make what they think audiences will like. There’s sparks of waht Tex would become.. but just not enough wiggle room for him to make something special. Also porky looks and sounds weird in this one and Bean’s girlfriend has a REALLY annoying voice. Oh and two horrible Asian stereotypes, because it was acceptable at the time but lord was it never okay. Then again I should be at least mildly greatful none of the shorts had blackface.. because tex apparently REALLY had a problem with that, something I obviously didn’t know as a kid as they edited it out but given most of his MGM shorts have “blackface edited out of x version”, yeahhh.... I may like the guy, quite a bit and feel those gags weren’t done out of malice.. but it dosen’t make them okay, they were never okay and he should’ve done better.

2. I Love to Singa (1936) Thankfully our next entry is 800% better, as we get a classic from my childhood and probably multiple childhoods. Admittedly part of the reason this one stuck in my head is the title song, sung by a young jazz singing owl whose dad doesn’t like that he sings Jazz instead of classical, enters a contest and nearly looses singing classical to please his dad only for his dad to intervene and finally accept his son. It’s a wonderful story of acceptance with some decent gags, beautiful animation and one hell of a title track that will probably never leave my head. The song is really what makes this short and sometimes that’s okay. Also just to note so someone else doesn’t: This short was a parody of the Jazz Singer one of the first talkie’s.. and also a film that uses blackface and whose 80′s remake bafflingly also uses blackface for some reason. Yes really.

3. Tortoise Beats Hare (1941)

One of Tex’s only four Bugs Shorts.. but given 3/4 of them are certified classics, and one of them involving a horrible stereotype.. to the point it’s part of the rightfully infamous “Censored 11″ and the ONLY one involving Bugs Bunny.

So as I said, Tex has a bad history with casual racism, and while it was the style at the time and I don’t THINK he was actively malicious towards black people.. it doesn’t make some of his work any less harmful. The rest of his bugs work though is remembered for the right reasons: his first appearance, and early classic we’ll get to next.. and this standout everyone who saw it as a kid or an adult fondly remembers.

You all know the premise: Bugs finds out, in an utterly brilliant wall shattering bit at the start where he reads off the crew names and then the title, that this picture will have him beaten by a turtle and taking offense to that challenges the guy. This is honestly one of the few Bugs shorts where he’s the out and out villain of the picture. He’s doing this race purely out of ego, yells at Cecil whose perfectly nice in this one, and in general is the bully set up for a fall he’d later be famous for taking on. But it works, both because this si early in bugs career so it’s entirely in character, and because Mel just really sells the obnoxiousness while still being funny.

This short also has one of Tex’s trademark setups as this is essentially a prototypical droopy cartoon: A meek, goofy voiced protagonist whose shorter than his large obnoxious enemy and who torments him by showing up every where he’s going to be and casually doing it. Cecil even does so using an army of fellow turtles with Droopy later using a similar trick in one of his shorts. As a big Droopy fan i’m clearly not complaining and while Droopy would do it better, this short’s still a classic for a reason with tons of great bits and is a fun break from the usual bugs setup, though in full fairness the usual bugs setup is still solid gold so take that how you will.

4. The Heckling Hare (1941)

Originally I was going to have Daffy in Hollywood in this spot as I thought it was on Max, it was not, so I swapped it out with his final bugs cartoon. For the record his first, and Bugs, is being saved for Bugs birthday this summer. And honestly i’m glad I did because this was 7 mintues of pure joy that has another setup that Tex himself and other Looney Tunes animators would resuuse: Bugs being pitted up against a far dumber antagonist. One who often still fully deserves it but allows him to just have fun for several minutes at this dumb bastard’s expense. It works well here, with tons of clever gags, my faviorite being the two doing dumb faces with each other only for bugs to stop and pull out a sign as seen right above.

It’s also an approriate capper to our warner made Tex shorts for the day, as this would be the one that got him fired. He and Schisnger argued over it and he got suspended as I mentioned and I found it again a bit fucking extreme. So did Tex and after a handful of shorts elsewhere, he’d move over to MGM, whose cartoons would ironically be bought up by warner. They needed a shot in the arm to compete with Disney and Warner and Tex was happy to provide hte needle filled with nonsense. And the results.. are pure gold.

5. Dumb Hounded (1943)

I’ll admit as a kid I didn’t know Tex’s MGM shorts were theatrical, or any shorts but somehow I knew they weren’t looney tunes. Besidds obviously having hteir own show they just had their own tone and pacing and style. While the Looney Tunes aren’t bad, at all honestly, Tex’s work here was in a class by itself with MGM gladly giving him a higher budget and even more creative freedom. And the results speak for themselves and one of those results is one of if not my faviorite classic cartoon character. And since I might not be able to get to his birthday with one of these next month, though i’m certainly going to try march is just VERY VERY FULL. Anyways point is our happy hero was introduced here. And given i’m frequently depressed and often withdrawn, not that you could tell from my reviews here, I related to this depressed bulldog who always won anyway despite being an outsider, finding love, sucess and always beating a much larger, much more assholish antagonist. But Droopy is good on his own merits as his shorts are just that funny.

This was true from Day One as dumb hounded is fucking perfect: The Wolf that Avery always used in his cartoons escapes from jail and is hunted by bloodhounds including our boy, who charmingly introduces himself with “You know what, i’m the hero”. From there it’s a simple setup but a great one as Droopy finds the guy.. then chases him from here to enternity with one amazing gag after another. Simple, utterly hilarious and the dawn of a legend, with the ending having Droopy go a bit nuts after getting his reward money before returning to his usual demeanor “You know what? I’m happy” So am I bud, so am I.

6. Red Hot Riding Hood (1943)

Yup same year. Tex hit the ground sprinting. This one is his signature MGM toon and for good reason. Using his usual forth wall breaking style, both the wolf and red riding hood rebel when it opens with a typical telling, so it changes to a 40′s nightlife setting: Grandma lives in a penthouse and is man hungry, Red is a fanservicey night club act and the Wolf is a sexually harassing asshole who chases after here and has some over the top reactions to her that are iconic in some’s mind.

The short is gorgeously animated with Red’s dance sequence and Wolfie’s reactions being the highlight and the short isn’t as bad as it could be as the wolf is treated as a scumbag for hitting on her and generally being a creep. SO the first two thirds aren’t bad with nice touches like the narrator clearly improvising the new story. It’s just badly hampered by the last half where Grandma sexually harasses Wolfie and it just doesn’t work. This double standard stuff annoys me and “haha get it it’s funny when a woman stalks a man” isn’t funny. Wolfie stalking her really isn’t that funny either it’s just not you know an entire third of the film. So a classic for a reason.. but one that really has degraded with time. Still worth analyzing and what not, just not great.

7. Who Killed Who? (1943)

Yes still. It was a good year. This is another one off like Red Hot Riding Hood and as is tradition since the Tom and Jerry one, my patreons each get to pick one and Kev selected this one. And this.. was a great choice.

Seriously I could not stop laughing with a great gag a minute, WAY too many to mention, a classic ending, and just nothing but net the whole time. I don’t have much to say really.. but because this one’s just good. The whodunnit genre hasn’t really gone away, it’s cliches are welll known even today and this is a lovely parody of it that hits the ground running after a live action intro and runs right through the wall across a lake and straight into droopy “You moved.”.

The only real observation I have other than “This is fucking awesome watch it immediately” is that the villian looks exactly like the Phantom Blot. Who knew the Phantom Blot was a live action guy with a weird haircut the whole time huh? Seriously this one is a masterpiece, an instant faviorite, and I highly recommend it.

8. Screwball Squirrel (1944)

As you can probably guess by how I lead it in this one is not very good. It is tex TRYING to make a bugs or daffy type character again and somehow failing at it. He created them, he did plenty of shorts like theirs with other characters and got how the cat and mouse antics of the old theatrical shorts worked.. so I have no idea how this one happened.

I’m really not overselling it: The short is about Screwy, who hyjacks it from a cute widdle bunny clearly parodying bambi.. who he beats the shit out of, then decides to get things going asks a dumb dog to hunt him, then insults him to provoke him to attacking him. He then spends the entire short tormenting the poor dumb bastard who again HE PROVOKED. It feels like a poor imitation of dumb hounded, as while Bugs clearly outclassed the dog there, he’d die if he lost, so while he was punching down, he clearly didn’t have a choice and you can’t honestly blame him. Here, Screwy is fine, he just wants someone’s head to fuck with and spends a whole short torturing him. We don’t even get catarsis as while the dog does catch him at the end via weird gag, they end up deciding to beat up the bunny instead.

His voice is also just the worst, just utterly grating and making me wish an anvil woudl fall on HIM instead. Screwy would return for some other shorts but I have no idea why. This was easily the weakest of these ten shorts and I will probably not return to the guy next year.

9. Bad Luck Blackie (1949)

This is one i’d forgotten till I got a ways in. It’s also weirdly one of the only MGM Tex shorts on HBO Max as this was included in the Tom and Jerry collection for some reason, the dog in it clearly isn’t the tom and Jerry verison of spike... though the dog Droopy fought a lot was indeed called spike. Yes that is confusing, no I don’t know why MGM thought this was a good idea.

As a result though I have been saving giving out about this till now but seirously , put the tex avery shorts on HBO Max. Their on Blu-Ray, their on boomerang, especially Droopys. I do not get why they aren’t on here. I’m tired of them holding things out for the boomerang app when not everyone subscirbes to that. Let me have my morose dog dammit.

That giving out aside i’m glad this one caught my eye via i’ts weird name as it’s another masterpiece. It also does what one Tom and Jerry short I reviewed, the one where tom’s a millionare, earlier this month failed to: properly make it’s antagonist loathsome enough to deserve the parade of abuse he gets. With that one Tom is tourturning jerry for like 30 seconds, but Jerry torments him for most of 5 minutes.

Here we get about two minutes of our lead kitten getting torremnted by a mean bulldog. It’s not only still a bit entertaining to lessen the horror just enough to be watchable but not enough to make the bulldog likeable, but it makes what happens for the rest of the short oh so fucking satsifying. While the previous short today really didn’t get the karmic ballance neded for a good classic screwball comedy short this one overwhelmingly does.

Our kitten gets some help in the form of Blackie, a professional black cat who agrees to turn the tables, sauntring across to a wonderfully catchy tune. any time the little guy whistles. The result from there is 5-6 nonstop minutes of comedy genius, as Tex finds new and creative ways for the cat to come out of nowhere, and even shakes things up to keep it intresting towards the end iwth the dog getting the whistle.. only for it to still not work out, and for our little kitten to get his revenge at last by painting himself black after the bulldog paints blackie white. As should be obvious by now, it’s really good, showing Screwball Squirrel was the exception not the rule. In general Tex was this good during his mgm and when he was at his peak we got gems like this. Truly sensational, watch it if you have max it’s under the tom and jerry section for some reason.

10. T.V. of Tommorow A decent one I remember seeing as a kid. Not much to say though, it’s mostly a bunch of gags about “future” tv’s based on their viewer’s needs. Some good stuff.. not as good as most of what was here today but still better than the worst of it and still very memorable and part of a memorable tetralogy i’ll probably come back to when I do Tex’s birthday again next year. Not a bad note to end on though.

Overall these shorts show just how strong a creator tex was, gleefully taking convention and ripping it to tiny pieces. As i’ve mentioned many times i’ll be coming back to his work next year.. and probably be watching a hell ofa lot more in the time between. Might even do a second special on him in between birthday ones. We’ll see how this does. The Tom and Jerry one sadly wasn’t quite the hit I hoped.

Until then I have many other reviews. And since Today (This review is late) was supposed to be the 90′s tom and jerry movie but that turned out not to be on Max for some reason. I still plan to cover it some day i’ll just have to find it and buy it first. But tommorow if I have the time i’ll be continuing the Lena retrospective with an intresting little side trip. So until then, i’ts been a pleasure and you know what? Thanks for reading.

#tex avery #droopy #bugs bunny #porky pig #the gold diggers of 49 #cecil turtle #tortoise beats hare #the heckling hare #tv of tommorow #dumb hounded #red hot riding hood #who killed who #red #spike #bad luck blackie #screwy squirrel #screwball squirrel #owl jolson #I love to singa

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thefloatingstone · 5 years ago

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Last time I made a playlist of recommended youtube channels to enjoy while in lockdown or self quarantine, I focused on individual videos while also recommending other videos from the same channel.

I thought I’d make another list only this time I’m going to be recommending playlists or series on youtuber instead of just individual videos.

This is gonna go exactly like last time, so check out any of these that might seem interesting to you, and hopefully I can give you something to look into if you want something to watch but don’t feel like watching a Netflix or Crunchyroll show.

Last time I tried to put this under a read more break but it didn’t work and I ended up posting this long-ass post on everyone’s dash. Well I decided to do so again here. hit J to skip to the bottom of the post if you don’t feel like reading this whole thing. If you’re on tumblr mobile; why?

In no particular order;

Cinemassacre movie reviews and topics

All of you already know James Rolfe as the AVGN. I started watching him before Youtube was even a thing, before he was even signed on with Screwattack. Back when his videos could only be seen on his own website (or for some reason included on the free DVD you got with the local video game magazines). However, I eventually outgrew the outrage style humour of the AVGN episodes... but then James started doing Monster Madness where he would talk about his love for horror movies, and this where I learned about his vast knowledge about movie history and even films I had never even heard mention of before! I think it’s safe to say, he got me to be interested in movie history just as much as movie production and film as a viewing experience.

I recommend this playlist which is a hodgepodge of James talking about old horror movie franchises, talking about his first experience with Power Rangers as someone who didn’t grow up with it, or how Bob Ross is a childhood hero of his. It’s an excellent play list that’s really laid back but you learn a lot of stuff from it. James is very informed for the most part and it leads you to wanting to check out a lot of these things too, just because he’s so passionate about it.

If I ever get over my weird hang up about speaking out loud, these are the kinds of videos I’d like to make.

Vinesauce Vinny: The Neverhood

Vinny is by no means a new Let’s Player, having been on Youtube for over 10 years now, but I only started watching him a few months ago. I started with this playlist when I saw he was doing The Neverhood, a game I had heard about but never seen played before. The Neverhood is a bizarre game, as a point and click PC game from the 90s where the entirety of the video game was made with stop motion and clay. Something that sounds so insane you would say it’s impossible if not for the fact that it exists. The claymation itself is extremely well done, and the game has a really weird and absurd sense of humour. Just the strangest things happen in this thing. Now couple that with Vinny’s very dry and straightforward delivery and you have probably one of the funniest Let’s Plays I’ve watched in a long time.

This is also “short” for a Let’s Play series. With only 4 parts to it, the longest video only being a bit under and hour and 30 minutes. It’ll still take up a good chunk of your time, but it’s not as daunting as some of the other Let’s Plays I’ll mention on this list.

Team Four Star: Pokemon Shield Nuzlocke

Exactly what it says on the tin. The guys from Team Four Star play Pokemon Shield with Nuzlocke rules. They’ve done several Nuzlocke runs in the past, but I find the Pokemon Shield is the best one they’ve done. Especially since a lot of the needless fluff and grinding has been edited out. So unlike some of their previous series you don’t see a lot of Kieran and Grant running in a circle for an hour trying to catch a specific pokemon or trying to get to a certain level.

It’s also hilarious as they have a lot of “house rules” for the Nuzlocke often involving the exercise bike they.... have..... for some reason.

It’s very good and the gym battles become SUPER hype with the Nuzlocke rules and the music.

Baywatching

Having been going to a few years now, watch Allison try her very best to go through and do a video series where she talks about summarises every episode of Baywatch.

.... Ever. Single. Episode.

She’s not even close to done yet (and now she’s introduced Baywatch Nights AS WELL) but her trying to explain the batshit insanity of this show, it’s over the top characters, it’s insane plots and behind the scenes weirdness with all the enthusiasm and love for this slice of 90s is amazing. Please enjoy a good thick chunk of inside jokes, silly character voices, and a whole lot of ?????

Brutal Moose: Shenmue

Probably one of the most chill channels on all of Youtube, Brutal Moose aka Ian, prefers playing games you wouldn’t think would make for good Let’s Plays. And maybe they don’t, objectively. A collection of playlists covering Truck Simulator, Nancy Drew, Hidden Object games etc etc, spliced in with old commercials from drive in theaters from the 50s,60s and 70s. Ian’s Let’s Play channel is great for just putting on and letting play for company while you’re drawing or grinding in a video game or playing Stardew or something.

I recommend his Shenmue playthrough as Ian completely fell in love with the game and went on to play both the sequel and the newly released third game. Ian genuinely adores the weird voice acting and all the menial tasks and mini-games you can do. I watched this a lot in 2018 when I was going through a rough time, and it really helped me in a strange way to just put Ian on and listen to him talk to the chat and drive a forklift around for like 4 hours straight before going to Tomato Mart or wasting all his money on the gacha machines.

A Measured Response to “In Defense of Dark Souls 2″

At some point, big name youtuber Hbomberguy made a video called “In Defense of Dark Souls II”. I’m not subscribed to Hbomberguy but I enjoyed his video on why Sherlock (the BBC show) is trash. (come to think of it I should have added that to the first list). And it seems the video on Sherlock was really good and well argued.... and it seems his “In Defense of Dark Souls 2″ video... was not.

Using subjective language, bad representation of facts, or simply outright getting certain information wrong, Hbomberguy′s video on Dark Souls II is, at best, a man trying to argue that he likes Dark Souls II because it is “Objectively good”, rather than simply accept he likes it... because he likes it.

MauLer is kind of an asshole, but I have learned more about dissecting someone’s argument and deconstructing what they have said watching his response series than I have in any english or debate class I have ever had.

The response is over 10 hours long, but this is because MauLer takes time with each and every statement he takes umbrage with, discussing what is being said, discusses why it is false or dubious, and then compares with actual facts and research.

If you ever want to know how to to distinguish subjective opinion from objective fact in someone else’s argument regarding... ANYTHING really, I highly recommend this series.

I may not like MauLer as a person, but DAMN if he doesn’t know how to deconstruct an argument in a logic, emotionless way.

John Wolfe: Maize

Maize is a stupid game. a Stupid stupid game.

It involves sentient corn, and underground secret genetics lab, a Russian bootleg teddy bear that hates everyone, sentient corn, and a crumpet.

This game IMMEDIATELY went on my wishlist after watching this playthrough. Please watch John try and figure what the actual fuck is going on in this Monty Python-eque weird black comedy. It’s stupid, it’s weird, it’s bizarre and it’s honestly one of the funniest games I’ve seen streamed.

Hollywood: a Celebration of the Silent Era

This is not a youtube playlist. I mean it IS, but what this actually is, is a TV series released in the UK in 1980 covering the Silent Film era. As it was made in 1980, it includes interviews with many of the silent film stars who were often still alive during this documentary’s production. Each episode covers a specific theme of the silent movie era. One episode is about comedies, one is about WWI, one is about Westerns etc etc.

It’s a fascinating series, because it focuses on the silent era which, in modern day, I think many people unfairly think of as “those first few years of movies before movies really became a thing.” And that’s such a shame and really not true. The artistry, camera tricks, and raw nature of this early era of film making is so important and produced films which can still be watched today easily, possibly even easier than a few modern movies as often the very fact that the films are silent means they are universal, regardless of what language you speak.

I think an episode or two might have been turned to private or copyright claimed in this playlist, but I know if you do a search on youtube you can find the episode uploaded by someone else.

Diamanda Hagan: Bonekickers

Bonekickers is the show Mathew Graham made before he went on to work on the new Dr. Who. It is about archaeologists and it is God-fucking-Awful.

It is.... look. Ok. I like Archaeology a lot. But this isn’t a show that’s bad “if you like history” or “if you know things about archaeology”. This show is bad because it doesn’t make a single fucking lick of sense, all the characters are awful and terrible, and even if you understand what’s going on in the story you’re still going to be screaming “WHY????” at the screen as each new baffling stupid piece of the puzzle slots into place.

Diamanda Hagan has 0 time for this garbage and she’s going to walk you through each episode to show you how truly horrible this piece of garbage is.

Cry Plays: Ori and the Blind Forest

With Ori and the Will of the Wisps releasing recently, now is a great time to go and watch Cry playthrough the first Ori game. an absolutely gorgeous piece of work with a beautiful soundtrack and really likeable character designs and a sweet story, Ori is a great game to put on, sit back, and just let it wash over you. Cry’s playthrough is also great because although its a Metroidvania game, Cry fast forwards the parts where he backtracks for a long period of time, so you don’t get stuck watching him run back and forth as he tries to figure out where to go next or anything like that.

Cry also recently started playing the sequel as well!

If you enjoyed this list at all, please consider tipping me for a coffee

☕️ Ko-fi ☕️

#self isolation #Quarantine #Youtube #Links #Recommendations #Recommended #ask to tag #long post #No editing we die like men

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dustedmagazine · 5 years ago

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Listed: Horse Lords

Baltimore-based Horse Lords have been forging their own take on experimental rock music since 2012. The quartet, Andrew Bernstein (saxophone/percussion), Max Eilbacher (bass/electronics), Owen Gardner (guitar) and Sam Haberman (drums) weave together pieces drawing on divergent sources that include everything from 20th and 21st century classical music to just intonation tuning to African and Appalachian musical traditions to intricate polyrhythms and studio experiments. In a recent interview, Gardner talked about their approach to putting pieces together. “We generally write right up to the edge of our abilities. And sometimes slightly beyond. We’d had to scrap quite a few songs because they proved to be basically impossible to play... It keeps it interesting.” Ian Forsythe covered their newest release, The Common Task, noting that “Their nearly ten-year core pivots rhythmic and tonal ideas athletically, and their ability to pull elements from anywhere and everywhere is seemingly more fluid with each record.”

For this Listed, the four members runs down a list of live shows, recordings, blogs, movies, and books that have been on their minds.

Gleb Kanasevich plays Horațiu Rădulescu’s “Inner Time II for seven clarinets (Op.42b),” Baltimore. 2018 (Owen Gardner)

youtube

A near-hourlong ear workout, combining impressive sonic and structural brutality. The interaction of what these close dissonances do inside your ears with what the clarinets do in space (Gleb played live with 6 recordings of himself, meticulously arranged around the audience) is a haunting experience, celestial but with no concession to human music.

Maryanne Amacher — Perceptual Geographies, Philadelphia 2019 (Owen Gardner)

https://issuu.com/bowerbirdphilly/docs/amacherprogramonline

So much revelatory material has come out of the Maryanne Amacher archive so far, and particularly these loving reconstructions of her instrumental music. A lot more attention seems to have been given to “Petra,” which is certainly gorgeous and shows fascinating symmetries with the spatial/timbral concerns of her electronic music, but “Adjacencies” struck me as the Major Work of 20th Century Music. She wrote the damn thing in 1965 and it sounds fresh half a century later, which we can say of no previous piece of percussion music and not much written subsequently. I am slowly losing my mind waiting for Amy Cimini’s book on Amacher to come out, craving a deeper dive into her theory and methods.

Sarah Hennies, Bonnie Jones, Lê Quan Ninh, and Biliana Voutchkova at the High Zerofestival, Baltimore 2019 (Owen Gardner)

youtube

One of at least three great things Sarah Hennies did last year (Reservoir 1 on Black Truffle and the 90 minute cello/percussion duo “The Reinvention of Romance” being the others) was to take part in Baltimore’s High Zero festival, four mind-frying days devoted to free improvisation. This set was one of the highlights of 2019’s festival; each of the four performers having at least one foot in composed music (Ninh is a long-time Cage interpreter and Biliana has collaborated with Peter Ablinger) seemed to lend it a certain sureness and serenity, but ultimately their combined strength as improvisors (fastidiously captured by High Zero’s crack recording team) is what makes it such an engaging listen.

El Chombo — Cuentos de la Cripta (Owen Gardner)

youtube

A relentless tetralogy that nicely balances the rawness of ‘90s proto-reggaetón productions (the first volume self-identifies as “Spanish Reggae”) and the slicker, synth-oriented sound and settled genre conventions we’ve come to enjoy (or not) in the 21st century. This was helpful when working on “People’s Park,” not least for its insistent connection to Jamaican music. I can understand very little Spanish but I'm guessing the lyrics are not unproblematic; signifying language always disappoints.

Wallahi Le Zein! (Owen Gardner)

http://thewealthofthewise.blogspot.com/

An invaluable resource for anyone interested in African music, much more consistent and informative than the often yucky reissue market, which seems to prioritize awkward (and marginal) attempts at Western musical fads—as if what was available was not an impossibly rich and heterogeneous network of self-sufficient musical cultures but merely a broken mirror facing America. The archive of Mauritanian music alone makes this the most worthwhile stop on the information superhighway. There’s plenty of goofy drum programming and appalling sound quality if that’s your bag, but the rich variety of traditional musics is what keeps me coming back.

Miles Davis — On the Corner (Max Eilbacher)

youtube

Some might say Stockhausen serves imperialism but he did his little part to help cook up some of the most twisted American Jazz/funk jams ever. Davis only kept one cassette in his convertible sports car during the On the Corner sessions, a tape of “Hymnen.” He would take each member of the band on highspeed joy rides with the car’s stereo system on full blast. That same energy was channeled in the arrangement and editing. The convergence of a lot of different elements keeps this record on my top 10 list ‘til the end of time. The little detail of Americans taking concepts from European Neu Musik and making something incredibly funky and pleasurable is the cherry on top.

Olivia Block & Marcus Schmickler at Diffusion Festival, Baltimore 2018 (Andrew Bernstein)

This was an amazing pairing, with both artists playing in 8-channel “surround sound.” Marcus’ set was incredibly intense. Pure synthesis with a lot of psychoacoustic inner ear tones and unending overlapping melodies. It felt like the sonic equivalent of watching a strobe light at close distance. Olivia’s set was a slow creep, laying samples to create lush textures that were truly immersive. This was the kind of concert that reminds you of the awesome power of music.

Blacks’ Myths at the Red Room, Baltimore 2019 (Andrew Bernstein)

Blacks' Myths II by Blacks' Myths

I’m there for anything bassist Luke Stewart touches (see Irreversible Entanglements, his solo upright + feedback work, frequent collaborations with too many people to name). Blacks' Myths, his bass and drumset duo with Warren Crudup, is loud, noisy, and intense, and this set at the Red Room last year was particularly transcendent.

“Blue” Gene Tyranny — Out of the Blue (Andrew Bernstein)

Out of the Blue by "Blue" Gene Tyranny

I have probably listened to this record more than any other the last few years. Perfectly crafted pop songs segue into proggy funk jams and then into stream of consciousness drone pieces based around the doppler effect. I’ll put it on over and over again, an experience with an album I haven’t really had since I was in high school.

Bill Orcutt — An Account of the Crimes of Peter Thiel and His Subsequent Arrest, Trial, and Execution 2017 (Max Eilbacher)

AN ACCOUNT OF THE CRIMES OF PETER THIEL AND HIS SUBSEQUENT ARREST, TRIAL AND EXECUTION. by BILL ORCUTT

Legendary underground American guitarists from the most important American rock band also makes top notch conceptual digital audio art. Years ago I thought computer music lacked a certain sub cultural attitude. While this was/is not true, this 2017 release feels like it exists in its own world. High and low brow are in perfect harmony for this patterned enjoyable hellride of a listen. What if Hanne Darboven had to make art while working a full time job and dealing with mild substance abuse?

Lina Wertmüller — Seven Beauties 1975 (Max Eilbacher)

By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=42000553

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Beauties

During this pandemic I have been talking film shop over emails nonstop. I went through a big Wertmüller phase in 2018-2019 and as people are trading recommendations I usually try to recommend something by her. This film is the one that I keep reaching for. The email recommending this film usually starts as a draft with “this is really intense” and then I try to hearken back to my film school days and write about the male gaze, patriarchy, communism or something of that nature. I end up writing a bit, feeling like it’s way over the top for a casual email and then I end up deleting everything except “this is a really intense and beautiful film.”

Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA and the Secret History of the Sixties by Tom O’Neill (Sam Haberman)

https://www.littlebrown.com/titles/tom-oneill/chaos/9780316477574/

The last book I managed to check out of the library before it closed. Though it in some ways resembles works of conspiracy theory, Tom O’Neill is always straightforward in telling the reader that, though the official story of the Manson case is almost certainly not true, the actual details don’t cohere into any kind of Meaning. Every new discovery is its own digression that points to a new unknowable truth or unverifiable claim. This really inverts the normal thrill of conspiracy theory, which invites you to either buy into the story being presented or reject it all together, either path offering its own sort of comfort. Chaos offers no such comfort.

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shauhank · 5 years ago

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Christopher Nolan: A visionary director with beautiful combination of complexity and perception

· What is complexity?

The state of quality or being intricate or complicated.

· What is perception?

The way in which something is regarded, understood or interested.

Complexity and perception are the two different and simultaneous phenomena occurring at any instance of life i.e. complexity can be occur with anyone, in any form and up to any extent and how you relate, understand or take interest to go through that with your perception that’s what defines you.

So, basically these two objects are the strength of Hollywood’s London native director who is none other than Christopher Edward Nolan. He has directed some magnificent cinemas and gifted them to the world in which these two objects were his secret ingredients. He has revolutionized the concept of the cinema, film-making, character portrayal, filming techniques, story-telling and many other aspects revolving around a film.

His notable work in the cinema is as mentioned below:

1) Following (1998)

2) Memento (2000)

3) Insomnia (2002)

4) The Dark Knight Trilogy (2005-2012)

5) The Prestige (2006)

6) Inception (2010)

7) Interstellar (2014)

8) Dunkirk (2017)

Let us discuss his beautiful cinema work one-by-one:

1) Following (1998)

Well, this was the first break-through of its kind in the era of late 90’s and early 2000’s. It was the first major film directed by Christopher Nolan and in addition to that, it was a neo-noir crime thriller (like “No Country for Old Man”) in black & white picturization in which a person follows some strangers around the streets of London and ultimately it drawn him into a criminal underworld when he fails to keep the distance.

The important facts regarding to this movie are the film was decided to make in very limited budget. The unavailability of money was such that the scenes of the film were heavily rehearsed so that it requires only one or two takes to complete and this expense was bared by Nolan himself from his own salary. He mostly used available light as they were unable to afford professional lighting equipment. In addition to that, to reduce the manpower expense, Nolan contributed himself in writing, photographing, editing and production.

After that, when the film was released it was greatly praised by critics, reviewers and audiences.

2) Memento (2000)

Success of the film “Following” had driven Nolan to the great Hollywood where he directed his first Hollywood movie with big production company of Summit Entertainment.

This was also neo-noir thriller but in psychological genre. This film featured “perception” object of the Nolan’s strong-holds. In the movie, the black & white event series is shown in forward direction whereas the color event series is shown in reverse chronology and both the series met at the end of the film. Therefore, this results at a point where same scene is shown from three to four perceptions and the way it bends your mind is phenomenal.

Thus, this movie marked the first step forwarding into the Hollywood for Nolan.

3) Insomnia (2002)

It is the moment of success for Nolan that after making only two films, one of the biggest studios of Hollywood, the Warner Bros. collaborated with Nolan for the very first time and he directed his third film ‘Insomnia’.

Also, it was his first film in which great actors like Al Pacino and Robin Williams played lead roles and delivered their wonderful performances and made the film memorable. It follows the story of two homicide detectives who were investing a murder. Note that, this was also neo-noir thriller in mystery genre. This is the only film of Nolan in which he was not credited in story writing for the film.

It was the first commercial success of for the Nolan and critically it was well received also.

4) The Dark Knight Trilogy (2005-2012)

There was a time when superhero movies were heavily backlashed by critics, audiences and reviewers because they were lacking heavily in the areas of story, character portrayal, flamboyant costumes, proper cast and above all a pinpoint direction of the film.

It was the period where previous Batman movies were furiously rejected by public and reviewers because they have not portrayed the characters as they originally were and then Nolan helmed this very difficult task to direct superhero movie of Batman and his other characters. He nailed this job so much efficiently that this trilogy is now considered as the best superhero movies of all time.

It contained magnificent music work of Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard with magnificent performances of all the actors like Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Morgan Fox, Liam Neeson, Gary Oldman, Michale Caine, Cillain Murphy and many others. The movie ‘The Dark Knight’ so effortlessly pictured as it marks all-time, evergreen performance of Heath Ledger as the Joker and embarked him as the greatest super-villain performance of all time.

This trilogy has proved that superhero movies can be made in depth, they too have proper story, character portrayal, engaging music and sound. It was the first time that Nolan’s film has crossed the mark of 1 billion USD which shows that how well it was received by the public and this trilogy also grabbed many awards too including Academy Award for Heath Ledger (as the Joker) for his magnificent performance.

5) The Prestige (2006)

In the continuing flow of his work, he then directed his first science-fiction film in psychological thriller genre which followed the story of two rival magicians in the 19th century, who were obsessed with creating best stage illusion and engaging in competitive one-up man ship which ended in tragic results.

This film is perfect mixture of complexity and perception as how magicians and their tricks plays with our minds and how to unfold them, are some highlighting features of this film.

6) Inception (2010)

What happen when you come to know that a film can be made only on one part of your body and it can be linked with science with grand scale which leaves you in series of questions? If you want to know then watch ‘Inception’.

A great film about mind, dreams and its strength to whatever decisions we are taking in the life and how it affects them. The story follows about how an idea can be inserted into someone’s mind through complex events and paradox loops of the mind and how the idea can be implemented to anyone which defines his rest of the life.

This was the first film of Nolan who single-handedly won four Academy Awards and marked one of the finest creations of Nolan.

P.S.: If you watch this movie, you will have a series of questions in your mind which no one can answer.

7) Interstellar (2014)

As there was a journey inside our mind in the film ‘Inception’, similarly ‘Interstellar’ movie has shown a beautiful ride in the inter-galactic space, higher dimensions and above all a great bonding between father and daughter which was strong enough to survive thorough the toughest time.

It follows the story of a group of astronauts who travel through wormhole in search of a new home for humanity. After showing all the space concepts, mind-blowing visuals of black hole, higher dimensions which were not discovered till today and amazing cinematography at the ground level it was centered on the relation of a father with her daughter as he was in the quest for returning to his home and reuniting with his children in the entire film.

There is one dialogue in the movie itself which summarizes the film:

“Love can transcend space and time.”

Understand this sentence; you will understand the true message of the film automatically.

This was the second film of Nolan, in which he did not contribute in the writing of the film and it was entirely done by his equal genius brother Jonathan Nolan with the help of physicist Dr. Kip Thorne.

8) Dunkirk (2017)

After directing many films in the genre of science-fiction and neo-noir with mixture of psychological, murder mystery and non-linear cinema, Nolan finally got his hands on the actual history incident and marked his first film based on any true story or incident.

Dunkirk follows the story of the evacuation of the Allied forces from the beach of the Dunkirk town and how they faced difficult situations created by German Forces. Nolan successfully portrayed the entire scenario so flawlessly that even world war veterans got mesmerized after watching this film.

One of the few points, which I observed that in any cinema direction, cinematography, sound mixing and recording, music, editing, screenplay are the essential and crucial elements besides performances of the actors. This film marked all the elements of film-making and every element was clearly identified amazingly. Also, this movie follows the same story-line convergence pattern of the typical Nolan style which was an additional feature to this movie.

This movie grabbed three Academy Awards and many other awards with embarking itself as one of the most accurate world war movie with highest grossing world war movie achievement.

In the end, the world is mesmerized by his films and he created his own fan following by his unique film-making style.

(P.S.: We are eagerly waiting for “Tenet”.)

Interesting facts about Christopher Nolan:

1) He directed only 10 films (as of 2019) in his career.

2) He contributed in story-writing of the all films he directed except Insomnia and Interstellar.

3) He collaborated with musician Hans Zimmer in 6 of his films.

4) He also collaborated with Sir Michael Caine in every movie since Batman Begins.

(P.S.: He had given only voice-role for the first time in the Dunkirk.)

5) Though directing such wonderful films, Nolan has never received the Academy Award for Best Director category.

6) All the 10 films directed by him till now is featured into Top 250 movies of all-time by IMDb.

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ryukyuan-sunflower · 6 years ago

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Edit: So amazingtoysha asked me advice for writing in a message which I posted a little while ago...and responding to the question gave me limited space apparently. So here is the full post of all the advice I wanted to give!

“Hiya! Thank you very much for reading Finding the Four Eyed Samurai. I am glad you enjoyed it thus far. Oh! Well...I’m far from a professional. My fanfiction, if it were a story unaffiliated with Samurai Champloo, would still break so many guidelines of professional published work. Perspective switching between Mugen and Fuu, purple prose, grammar, info dumping... My sins are extensive. This story is more like spewing out my heart onto the internet for fans that enjoy it :) You probably have seen the improvement over my 6 year period on fanfiction. I too am learning. However, if you are talking about just creatively writing for fun, practice, to send a message or even to just fulfill an inner fan, maybe I can give some advice. Some of the things I write will most definitely be things you already know but I’ll list them anyway. Since you mentioned you have trouble putting things into words, rather than plot points or characters, I’ll focus on that. 1. Start with small details and build up slowly. My writing process is actually very disjointed. I can not for the life of me write a story in order. I write all character dialogue first and fill in around it. When I first write a scene, I will simply start with something like: “She walked through the marketplace.” That’s it. Boring right? I will leave it for a bit if I’m stuck and move along to continue the scene in simple terms. When i come back, I start to imagine more if I were in that environment. This is where I think of the five senses. What would she smell, see, hear, touch or even...taste(?) lol. But when writing a scene, I also try to think about the mood it sets. If the character is feeling happy, the crowds will be rambunctious, the lights bright and the sights they see are fascinating. If they are hungry, it would be the smell of food that would command their attention. If the character is tired, the clamor and loud voices would grate on their nerves and the lights would be blinding. In the chapter I’m currently writing, Kyoto is much like Edo in that it is crowded and always lively. But because of the last chapter’s events...she can’t take notice of this energy. Without Mugen beside her, the crowds only make her feel more alone. So not only does the atmosphere set the mood, but a character’s mood can help you pinpoint what you should be describing in the environment. 2. Study! Read and read and read some more. This is advice I should listen to... Published novels, and sometimes even fanfiction can help you get a grasp on the flow of a story. You’ll also pick up words or descriptions that you wouldn’t have used otherwise. You’ll start to notice how the sound of a word in English can hold great weight. Think of how it comes off in the sentence: She scratched off the wallpaper until she could see the wood beneath it. She clawed at the wallpaper until she could see the wood beneath it. “Scratched” can be used in so many contexts. Is she redecorating? Is she curious what is underneath? “Clawed at” makes it feel frantic, like she is searching for something in a frenzy or perhaps is furious and clawed it off out of anger. It applies an uneasy feeling without stating it outright. There is a common phrase among writers. “Show, don’t tell.” Show the character is upset through the clenching of their fists, the quiver of their lips. Dont just say “She was upset.” Personally, I am a HUGE HUGE breaker of this >.< But it is a very important rule if you wish to get better at describing. 3. More studying!!! As much as every writer will tell you to read, I think it is good to look at visual forms of entertainment too. For example, if I had only watched Samurai Champloo as my basis for Tokugawa culture, my view would’ve been severely limited. If you want to write a samurai drama: watch black and white chanbara films, watch modern day shows about Japan, documentaries, look at photographs or paintings, read comics, and even play video games like Tenchu or Onimusha that will give that vibe of the time period. Reading is good for molding thoughts into words. But if you’re writing about an environment you are unfamiliar with, you need to SEE it before you can describe something believable. I had watched a lot of Japanese movies and played a lot of Japanese videogames before writing my fanfic. It helped so much. 4. Take notes. A lot of friggin’ notes.

Sometimes the right wording just won’t come to you when you put time aside to sit in front of your laptop or a notebook trying to write it all in one go. Like I said before, I don’t write in order at all. Some people can. And some can’t. I keep a notebook and pencil by my bed in case I have any dreams. I even carry one in my purse wherever I go. Sometimes a sentence or a really good word will just hit you all of a sudden. If you are writing a very long story, you will make tons of notes and will find you won’t even use half of them until you’re in way later chapters. An example for me was in the last posted chapter. I was writing chapter 28 or so when parts of this line popped into my head out of nowhere: “To him, she smelled of fresh rain and sweet spring flowers. To her, he reeked of sake and the cheap perfume from the whore he’d bought.”

At the time, I had gotten caught in rainstorm. And I always liked the scent of rain a lot. This made me think of how much I hate the scent of perfume since it makes my nose hurt. This contrast unveils both of their feelings. Intoxicated Mugen adores her while Fuu is disgusted by his recent behavior. One little thought and bam! Jotted it on paper and then put it into Chapter 34. An idea can come from literally anywhere. So write it down and save it for later! 5. Keep an open mind. It is good to know where your story is going by the end or you’ll wind up lost halfway through. Despite that, don’t reject new ideas that come to you. My story was originally going to be 26 chapters. If I had pushed out all the crazy side stories my mind concocted, then it would’ve lost so much of what readers enjoy about it. Don’t be afraid to make your characters go through and overcome struggle. If there is a sweet scene that will help further a relationship, put it in. Build up ideas and cut out extraneous things later. 6. Know that it will not be perfect. It will be far from perfect. Story might be decent. Description might even be bad. Maybe it’s the reverse. But that is okay. If you’re a beginner writer, Fanfiction is a great way to start, in my opinion. While you are writing preexisting characters, it is like a studying exercise. You can build around them, and try to understand why the characters are the way that they are or what drives them. This can help in the future when designing your own characters and world in which they inhabit. 7. Share your story! Don’t hide it! Some will compliment you and others will criticize you. Sure, almost everyone on fanfiction isn’t some paid professional. But the feedback will really help. It will push you. A nice compliment will make your day. A bad one will push you to do better. When publishing a book, you have to write a whole manuscript and pay for editors. And if you’re beginning, you probably won’t even want to start that process. That’s why writing fanfiction as a form of practice can allow you to share what you put your heart into instead of locking away your story to a forgotten file on your computer. 8. All that matters is that you are trying, learning and will gradually get better. Almost everything in life does not come easy. The idea you have for a story is 10% of the work, while sculpting that idea through words is 90% of it. My Samcham fanfic when I started was...god...ughhhhhhh. Sometimes I still cringe XD However, I know that it helped me learn so much, not just about vocabulary, storytelling and history, but also about myself. 9. Don’t stop writing. You will get days, weeks, maybe months where you might not feel like continuing it. You might even drop the story altogether. But if you stop, so does your journey in learning. Press forward. If you post the beginning chapter and get only a few comments or barely any views, and it feels like not enough, know that people will only come to read the story you put so much effort into if you continue writing it! 10. Be proud when you look back on your previous work. As you discover your own voice and your storytelling evolves, it might be painful to look back at your earlier writing. Instead of punching yourself, laugh it off and realize how far you have come. All it takes is one step. Don’t give up :) Hope at least one thing I said can help you a little on your journey of creative writing ^^ ~RyukyuanxSunflower AKA Fenrir’s Lockhart P.S: If you need help with description or plot points, there are many beta readers on fanfiction willing to help. And although I tend to disappear often, shoot me a message on fanfiction about your story or something you’re stuck on and I’ll try my best to help!

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jimsturgessnews · 6 years ago

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Actor Jim Sturgess, recently seen in BBC drama Hard Sun with Agyness Deyn, divides his time between Hollywood movies and songwriting. He talks to The Cork about constantly getting beaten up, the similarities between film and music, and swapping his skateboard T-shirts for a bespoke English Cut suit. As a fixture on the red carpet at Hollywood film premieres, Jim Sturgess has had to get used to being decked out by brands. “I remember the first time I got put in a suit,” the Wandsworth-born actor recalls. “I got on my bike the next day and delivered it back to them. They were like, ‘No, no, it’s yours, you can have it.’ I was like, ‘Are you joking?’” Even now, selecting from English Cut’s vast menu is a novel experience for someone accustomed to choosing from a rail of off-the-peg suits. “It’s like ordering a salad in America,” he says of the bespoke process, speaking like a man who spends extended periods of time in health-conscious Los Angeles for work. “You have a million options: do you want three buttons or two? I got quite into it. You start off thinking, ‘Oh, I don’t mind.’ Then you go, ‘Actually, let me see what pleated trousers look like … ’” After chewing it over, Sturgess settled on a rustic dark green. “I have a load of black and grey suits, so it was a chance to create something a bit different,” he explains. “It’s got a sort of tweed feel, a bit boxier than I’d typically go for … I’m sounding like a pro now, aren’t I?” His self-conscious laugh betrays that tailoring is not his, well, strong suit. “I live in Dickies trousers and a pair of white canvas shoes,” confesses the fresh-faced 39-year-old, who could comfortably pass for a twentysomething and still dresses, by his own admission, like a teenage skateboarder, even if he no longer actually skates in the park like he did when he was a teenager growing up in Surrey. “I sort of still think that I do, but I don’t,” he says. “Last year, I was messing around on my board, and I fell off and really hurt myself. Like, it hurt and hurt for a long time. You start to learn the hard way that your body’s not the same as it once was. Plus I have to go and throw myself around and get beaten up for work. You get injuries, and it makes life pretty difficult.” “You have a million options: do you want three buttons or two? I got quite into it. You start off thinking, ‘Oh, I don’t mind.’ Then you go, ‘Actually, let me see what pleated trousers look like’” Sturgess does seem to have a history of being on the receiving end of on-screen violence, from 2008 thriller Fifty Dead Men Walking, in which he played a British agent infiltrating the IRA, with Sir Ben Kingsley as his handler, to 2016 US TV series Feed the Beast, in which he played a Bronx chef with David Schwimmer as his fellow restaurateur. “I’ve got a punchable face,” Sturgess quips. “I suppose I’m attracted to stories that have an edge. Now I just assume that’s what acting is: getting beaten up.” Most recently, he was punched in the face by model-slash-actress Agyness Deyn – with a brass knuckle – for Hard Sun. (She learnt Israeli special forces fighting system Krav Maga for the role.) Written by Neil Cross, the scribe behind Idris Elba series Luther, the pre-apocalyptic BBC series stars Sturgess and Deyn as police detectives who inadvertently uncover a government-level conspiracy to conceal the inconvenient truth that the sun is going to destroy the Earth in five years. As knowledge of impending doom becomes more widespread, the fabric of society begins to unravel. At the time of writing, Sturgess has been selling Hard Sun to audiences in America. “They get bombarded with a lot of regal stuff, and they have a particular idea of what England looks like and sounds like,” he says. “It’s nice to show another side of London – a bit more contemporary.” Less like, say, 2008’s Tudor period drama The Other Boleyn Girl, where he played the brother of Natalie Portman’s Anne and Scarlett Johansson’s Mary, with Eric Bana as Henry VIII. Besides, Hard Sun is “very international”, even if it’s set in the UK: “If you live on this planet, you’re definitely involved.” Hard Sun also involved Sturgess wearing a suit every day, something he’d usually only do on special occasions. “It killed the joy,” he says. “I remember going to the Baftas, so I got out of one suit that I’d been wearing for months and put on another. Normally I’m pretty scruffy, so to put on a suit is quite a big change. It’s nice to put something on occasionally and feel a bit … You just feel different in a suit, don’t you?” Sturgess feels different whenever he gets into costume for a role. “It’s when the character comes alive, when you put on his clothes and the shoes that he wears,” he says. “It’s your identity. When you put on a different pair of shoes, you feel like a different version of yourself. So it’s really not until you put the costume on, clothes that you’ve specifically chosen to represent the character, that you understand, ‘OK, this is who he is.’” It’s surprising to hear that it all comes together at that late a stage, albeit after much planning and research. “Yeah, for sure,” insists Sturgess. “It’s always a very exciting moment, actually, when you go, ‘All right, there he is. That’s the way he’s going to look.’” One of Sturgess’s most sartorially memorable roles was the one furthest removed from any semblance of fashion: 2010’s The Way Back, inspired by the memoir of a Polish officer who claimed to have escaped from a Siberian gulag during WWII and trekked 4,000 miles across the Himalayas to British India. (A 2006 Radio 4 documentary questioned the veracity of the account, although there is evidence that someone did do the walk – just not the author.) “One of the great things that the survival expert told us was that you would never throw anything away,” remembers Sturgess. “So you wouldn’t get rid of your jacket, even in the desert – you’d cut it up and wear it as a headband.” Sturgess went straight from that to 2011’s One Day, the adaptation of the then-unavoidable David Nicholls novel with the instantly recognisable orange cover. Over the course of two decades of on-off romance with Anne Hathaway’s Emma, his character Dexter graduates from student to successful 90s TV personality. “Suddenly I’m in a tight pair of leather trousers and a giant jacket,” Sturgess laughs. “You couldn’t feel more different. And the clothes definitely navigate those feelings.” Those feelings were more combative in the case of London Fields, the adaptation of the Martin Amis novel also starring Billy Bob Thornton, Johnny Depp and Amber Heard, which has been trapped in legal limbo since 2015 after the director sued the producers for allegedly releasing their own cut (panned by the few critics who saw it). Sturgess played petty criminal and pub darts virtuoso Keith Talent, covered in tattoos and a grimy beard that made him feel “a bit tastier than I probably was”. This nearly proved disastrous when someone almost ran him over in a car: “I got really aggressive with him, and quickly realised that he was double my size.” Still, at least he’s used to being beaten up. Sturgess’ own sartorial identity was influenced by American skateboarding culture. “Certainly, when I was in my teenage years, I was very skateboard-heavy in my fashion,” he says. “And now most people look like skateboarders. It blows my mind that the standard footwear is a pair of Vans. Because when I was younger only someone who was into skateboarding would wear Vans.” He’s similarly bemused that lowly streetwear brands have ascended to the height of fashion, and that kids now queue round the block and overnight for the latest product drop at the Supreme store he used to wander into when it was just a skate shop. At the same time though, he totally gets it. “I remember my mum trying to put me into a pair of shoes that weren’t Converse All Stars,” he says. “They looked exactly the same, and they’d probably be way cooler now, but I was mortified. I was like, ‘No, they have to be Converse.’ My mum was like, ‘But they’re too expensive. These one look exactly the same – they’ve even got a star.’ And I was in tears: ‘Mum, you don’t understand. I can’t wear these to school: I’ll get crucified.’” The other major key to Sturgess’s wardrobe choices was music. He started a band when he was 15, singing and playing bongos in pubs despite being under-age. When school and the band finished, he went to the University of Salford to study media and performance, and be closer to the Manchester music scene. “There were a lot of jackets done up to the top and desert boots,” he says. “I miss that different kinds of music were so influential in the way people dressed. It was almost like a gang mentality: you’d have mods, you’d have rockers, you’d have two-tone … And now everyone looks roughly the same. But maybe that’s because I’m just hanging out with 40-year-old men. I don’t know.” Sturgess was as obsessed with films growing up as he was records. “Even at school, drama and music were the two things I was interested in,” he says. His uni course taught him scriptwriting, editing and theatre production as well as acting; he wrote and performed a one-man show called Buzzin’ that brought him to the attention of an agent, who encouraged him to move to London. Instead of kickstarting his acting career, he got into the Camden music scene and started a band called Saint Faith, taking bit parts in TV and ads to pay the rent. When they broke up, Sturgess was cast in 2007’s Across the Universe, a film musical based on Beatles songs and a perfect fit for his skill set. The common thread between music and acting is creativity and, perhaps not obviously in the latter’s case, self-expression. “It’s interesting because they’re very similar and totally opposite at the same time,” says Sturgess. “When you’re writing and playing music, it’s completely you, naked and bare; when you’re acting, you’re pretending to be somebody else. But you use your own emotions and life experiences to try and relate to the character. At the same time, people behind a microphone are playing some sort of a character. They might tell you that they’re not, but there is a level of performance that isn’t you while you’re just sitting with your mum and dad having a roast dinner.” Sturgess describes his diversion into acting as “circumstantial”; even now that he’s a star, music remains a big part of his life. “I’ve got a little studio at home, and then a lot of my friends are musicians,” he says. Over the years and the various bands, he’s amassed a vast quantity of unreleased material; he’s just now really putting his mind to doing something that might actually get out there. “I just want to finish a cohesive record that kind of has a beginning, a middle and an end,” he says. “Not just a load of scratchy demos that are all just lying around that could potentially grow into something great.” Songwriting inspiration can strike Sturgess in different ways. “Sometimes it’s just a thought,” he says. “Sometimes you’ll be messing around on the guitar and a little melody comes into your head, but you have no idea what the song’s about. Sometimes it’s lyrics: you build a song around the words first. Sometimes you can hear a drum loop, someone starts messing around with some melodies and then you just start singing on top.” Either way, it tends to be followed by a great deal more perspiration: “the grinding bit”. Sometimes Sturgess will know from the first page of a script how he’ll play a character – and sometimes not. “I’ve been offered things and I’m like, ‘I don’t know why you’re asking me to do this,’” he admits. “And that’s always quite exciting because it’s out of your comfort zone. You have to build a character, and change the way you speak and move.” For that, he accesses a database being constantly compiled. “Sometimes you’ve got a character in your head that you’d love to find a story for, and then you read something and go, ‘I could put that into this,’” he says. “Or you’ve noticed somebody on the Tube: ‘That’s interesting, the way he is.’ Then you read something and go, ‘I could use a bit of that.’” Getting noticed on the Tube is not something that Sturgess has to worry about – not even on buses with a picture of his face on the side. “Nobody’s that interested, really, so it’s very grounding,” he says. “In LA, people are very excited about movies, it’s an city built around the movie industry, and actors are kind of the commodity of that industry. So you feel a bit of treatment that you definitely don’t get when you come home.” London brings him back down to earth with a bump: “I’m very quickly getting knocked over on the Underground.” He tells an anecdote about a foreign tourist at King’s Cross who kept saying to him, “You’re a star, you’re a star.” Turned out she was looking for the Eurostar. That probably has more to do with Sturgess’s down-to-earthness than any lack of profile. Certainly, though, his flight path has brought him into the orbit of some massive stars. Like Tom Hanks, his co-star on 2012’s Cloud Atlas, who Sturgess describes as “the nicest guy you could possibly imagine” (exactly how you’d imagine him, then). “He took it on himself to organise a movie night every Sunday at his apartment in Berlin,” Sturgess says. “He’d order loads of food and put out the word to the cast and crew. And we’d all pile round there, hungover from Saturday night, to sit on his couch and watch movies.” Hanks would also talk with Sturgess about music: “He knew quite a lot about hip-hop.” Ed Harris, his co-star on The Way Back, is another. “He was one of the first actors that I worked with who I was so in awe of, and who became a friend, which was amazing,” says Sturgess. “He really took me under his wing, we bonded and we’ve stayed in touch ever since.” A surreal scene ensued in a hotel in New Orleans where the pair were working together for a second time, on 2017’s Geostorm. “We bumped into Billy Bob Thornton, who I’d just done a film with in London, in the foyer of the hotel,” says Sturgess. “We were in an elevator – a lift – and I introduced Ed Harris to Billy Bob Thornton. And I was just standing in the middle of two of the coolest dudes I know.” Sturgess doesn’t know what the future holds, beyond the release of two films that he shot after Hard Sun. The first, JT Leroy, is the strange but true story of a woman, played by Laura Dern, who writes a fictional memoir in the persona of a 15-year-old boy. When it becomes a literary sensation, she convinces the younger sister of her boyfriend, played by Kristen Stewart and Sturgess respectively, to masquerade as the non-existent male author – for six years. The second, Berlin, I Love You, is an anthology of 10 romantic stories set in the German capital and the latest in the series that began with 2006’s Paris Je T’’Aime; Dame Helen Mirren and Keira Knightley grace the ensemble cast. “It always surprises you,” Sturgess says of his fluid profession. “Which I quite like. What’s going to happen next? What sort of story am I going to be involved in telling?” Back in his normal “scruffy” clothes, he blends into the Chiltern Street foot traffic like a chameleon, just another anonymous extra in the movies of everyone else’s lives. (credit)

#interview #jim sturgess #english cut #phil dunlop #photoshoot #photooftheday #british #British actor #actors #actor #gorgeous #adorable #attractive #reblog #handsome

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mondofunnybooks · 6 years ago

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'THANOS'S GRANDAUGHTER: GO SUCK EGGS GRANDPA!' DEPT.

'The title means exactly what the words say: NAKED Lunch - a frozen moment where everyone sees exactly what is on the end of every fork.'

-William Burroughs, from the foreword notes for the novel 'Naked Lunch'.

THE GATEKEEPERS!

As may not possibly surprise you lot, we've run afoul of some of the more humourless elements of fandom in our time. This is probably down to the fact that we don't take superhero comics very seriously but are utterly enamoured of some of the more sillier elements of history. True story. We were once told off by a man in Green Lantern fangroup (We were bored.) because we thought that the origin of Kyle Rayner is so nakedly Freudian and 'Will this do?' to be hilarious.

To recap:

On a planet called Oa exists a race of short, bald humanoids with large heads called The Guardians. The Guardians believe in enforcing Order in the universe and go about this by way of selecting the most suitable candidate (called a Green Lantern.) of each sector of the universe to be given a power ring that does whatever the wearer can imagine. This ring had no effect on anything yellow due to a necessary flaw in the design to stop the wearer from having absolute power. Also, it has to be recharged every 24 hours.

Our sector of the universe is 2814, and of the 7200 Lanterns patrolling the universe at any given time, ours was a chap called Hal Jordan. Very strong-willed, very daring. Hal got the ring off an alien called Abin Sur who was on his way to give either him or a ginger bloke with a Moe haircut called Guy. Hal happened to be closer than Guy, so got the ring.

Hal Jordan went onto be a successful Green Lantern for several years but things went terribly wrong when a big yellow space tyrant called Mongul, teaming with a cyborg pretending to be Superman destroyed Hal's home of Coast City, murdering tens of thousands of people and left Hal shattered, feeling he'd failed in his duty as Earth's protector.

The loss of everything Hal cared about sent him insane, and he attempted to resurrect his destroyed home using the power ring, but he could only achieve a replica of what he'd lost and the ring wasn't designed to create that much matter for a presumably infinite period of time. His perceived second failure cemented his full breakdown, and he went on a murderous rampage in order to gather as many Green Lantern rings as possible on the way to returning to Oa is seize the original Green Lantern ring. Things go quite wrong as Hal murders the entire Lantern Corp and all but one of the Guardians: Ganthet.

Ganthet, a wee blue fella cosplaying as Orko off the He-Man cartoons pegs it back to Earth. Once there, he floats to L.A., sees a drunk bloke taking a piss against a wall and gives him the final power ring before sodding off, exclaiming 'The Ring will sort you, mate. No worries.'

A BLUE SPACE MIDGET IN A RED DRESS GIVES A DRUNK LAD ONE OF THE MOST POWERFUL WEAPONS IN THE UNIVERSE AND THEN FUCKS OFF IS THE ORIGIN OF KYLE RAYNER, GREEN LANTERN OF EARTH.*

This would be weird as a 1960's comic but at least the DC Editors of the '60s had no idea any of this stuff would be reprinted and pored (Hi, Donald.) over by future generations. Supergirl is having a relationship with a fella who turns into her horse but she doesn't know about it? Fine. There's a space creature from the fifth dimension who has a real thing for winding up Superman every ninety days and can only be stopped by tricking him into saying his name backwards? Gotcha. Batman owns a dog who fights crime but wears a mask on patrol so no one will link Ace The Bat-Hound with Bruce Wayne. Of COURSE. Beppo The Super-Monkey? PRINT IT! Who will care in five years? Who will even remember, right?

Green Lantern 50 (2nd series, 1994) was published post Watchmen, post Dark Knight Returns, post Brat Pack and all of the other silly 'Corporate Superheroes Can Be For Adults' malarkey. We were now aware of subtext, metaphor, aspirational text and either this is a daft attempt at being a mature comic (which given it features a nervous breakdown, genocide, the total psychological breakdown of one of the icons of the DCU and the first example of 'Fridging' quite soon after, it ought to be.) or it's a very bad attempt at pitching a superhero comic at the kids.

The real answer was of course that DC were trying to get attention back they'd lost to the Marvel Superstar period and subsequent formation of Image. Superman grew a mullet, Batman needed a wheelchair and was replaced with a religious nutter wearing Vatican levels of gold, Wonder Woman was replaced with a giant legged redhead, The Flash broke his leg. It was all kicking off.

But we always found the whole Kyle thing hilarious, and when making our usual jokes about it ('Good thing Ganthet didn't run into Richard Pryor!', etc.) we were scolded. It turns out the story had been rewritten a bit as part of something called Green Lantern: Rebirth so it made a bit more sense. Lord knows some of our best friends are comic fans, but when they start quoting the continuity of a DC comic with capitals like they WERE reciting THE Bible and Geoff Johns DID make it GOOD, we get a bit scared.

All that was a recap of 5 comics. (Green Lantern 47-50 and Superman 80) and was almost impossible to recap straight. When we tried to give a factual, chronological accounting of these comics, we weren't capable of throwing in a few puns. And circa 1989-1993, nor were the staff of Marvel Year In Review.

When people try to contemplate the early 90's and Marvel, they think of Spider-Man 1, X-Force 1, X-Men 1. If you narrow the field down to Marvel Magazines, probably the movie adaptations, poster specials and most likely the BEAUTIFUL Marvel Illustrated Swimsuit Editions. Few will remember the spectacular Marvel Year In Review annuals. That's a shame, because with one notable exception* it was the last time they displayed an ability to take the mick out of themselves beside the better issues of John Byrne's run on She-Hulk or the comedy title 'What The--?!' (also canceled, sadly in 1993.).

Marvel Year In Review, in theory, was probably originally designed to be exactly that: A chronological overview of every comic published by Marvel over the previous 12 months. That sounds simple enough but can you imagine being the poor saps who not only have to read all those comics but attempt to sum them up as a factual synopsis. The work and time we just put into four issues of Green Lantern was murder and at least interesting things happened in those books. 'Hey, Dwight here's all of Acts Of Vengeance to work out, and see if you can explain what a Captain Universe is and why Spidey might become possessed by his powers, there's a pie in it for you. Barry, you got Atlantis Attacks.' Interns were probably diving out of the window at the sight of editor Bobbie Chase approaching them with a stack of Alpha Flight.

So rather than put out another dry, just the facts ma'am comic to sit along Marvel Age, The Offical Handbook Of The Marvel Universe or Marvel Preview, they changed gears. Marvel opted for a magazine format with covers emulating the likes of Time and later National Lampoon and sadly unnoticed New York-centric mag Spy. The early issues provided something of a review of the year but in journalistic form for some of the bigger events juxtaposed with pieces on 'Best and Worst Dressed' and ads for products like Damage Control, who would sort out your house if it'd been trashed in a fight between The Hulk and The Wrecker, a tourist ad for Latveria, posters for the new Simon Williams film or a flyer for the next Dazzler disco compilation. Long before Alex Ross painted every last rock on Ben Grimm's back, Marvel TYIR gave you an insight into what it would be like to be a resident of the Marvel Universe reading a 616 style issue of National Lampoon.

MYIR also ran interviews with various superheroes, (Including Rick Jones recounting the time he met Elvis, by far the best thing to come out of Infinity Gauntlet/War/Crusade.) a review of Nightcat's debut album, an appetite suppressant for Galactus, the 'Who Died This Year, Who Came Back From The Dead and Who Managed To Stay Dead' update, an expose of Genosha's tourist, a create your own 90's superhero name and origin generator (which turned out to be surprisingly accurate.) an account of two disenfranchised rival employees's visit to the Marvel Offices and ooh, loads more.

This is speculation on our part, but the knife gets a lot sharper around the 1992-1993 editions. The full chronology is written with a weary black humour of someone's who just seen too much and is getting bitter. The full-on assault on the 1993 annuals, certain top-tier artists 'showing their influences too clearly' and inadvertently predicting the future of more brutal and uncaring superhero comics in the article 'Bring On The Bad Guys' from MYIR 1993.

There's a huge shift in attitude and editorial policy in the next 12 months. Several publishers have gone bust, Tom Defalco is gone as Editor In Chief and replaced with 5 people in charge of various parts of the publishing line, turning Marvel into a series of little fiefdoms with varying degrees of co-operation between each other. We've just met Peter Parker's robot parents. Aunt May is about to die. Reed Richards is dead. Jim Wilson is dead. Legion resolves to kill Magneto. Dr Strange has an idea for something called 'The Secret Defenders'. Everything is about to get very serious and therefore far more ripe for parody.

And with no word, no goodbye from the editors, nothing in the fan press nor explanation, Marvel Year In Review 1994 was solicited thusly:

'Marvel Year In Review 1994 - Just the facts, ma'am. Gone is the tongue-in-cheek humor of the past; the Marvel Year in Review offers a factual recap of the major Marvel Universe events of 1994. It's short on lengthy text and long on splashy art and fact-filled sidebars. Included are all the happenings from the pages of X-Men, Spider-Man, Fantastic Four and Ghost Rider, plus art by Andy Kubert, Chris Bachalo, Tom Lyle and many others! $2:95. $4.00 CAN'

And it was. Normal comic size. No chatty opener from the editor with puns and gags. No angry letters from readers just wanting to know what happened in X-Force and wanting to be rid of the MODAM jokes. No ads. Not even, truth be told, much in the way of recaps so much as trade dress-less cover repros with dialogue quotes and a paragraph or two to cover the essential plot elements, finished with the most perfunctory 'Er, will this do?' appeal to the readers on the last page. Turns out that no, it wouldn't do at all, as there was no Marvel Year In Review 1995 or any other edition either.

Marvel has put out a few self-parody books since, such as Marvel RIOT!, House Of Hem, Marvel WHAT Now?, Who Won't Wear The Shield, Wha HUH? and obviously Deadpool crosses the lines frequently, but there's not been something that clever nor ambitious since. Perhaps the line between reader, writer and editor aren't as clear as they used to be or simply today's audience wouldn't be as immediately familiar with the formats being parodied and as the recent attempts to parody Marvel fanfiction have shown, sometimes an idea just belongs to its time. As a magazine that featured fun work by the likes of Todd McFarlane, Dan Slott, Sam Kieth, Peter David, Kevin Maguire and a different angle on a world that takes itself a little bit seriously at times, Marvel Year In Review was a fun little ride while it lasted.

(Note to self. Never, ever look up Marvel fanfiction again. Ever.)

*This may be different now but was certainly the case in 1994. Origins, histories and such might have changed due to 52, Convergence and Rebirth. We were told that Flashpoint was the end of the DC Universe as we knew it, and we took that as a good place to stop reading. Except Section Eight and Batman/Elmer Fudd obviously.

Dedicated to the memory of Steve Ditko.(1927-2018)

#Marvel #DC #Spider-Man #Green Lantern #Year In Review #Todd Mcfarlane #Jim Lee #kevin maguire #Sam Kieth #X-Men #Punisher #Deadpool #Sabretooth

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metalindex-hu · 4 years ago

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„We worked with a lot of passion and enthusiasm on this record!”

„We worked with a lot of passion and enthusiasm on this record!” - http://metalindex.hu/2021/01/25/we-worked-with-a-lot-of-passion-and-enthusiasm-on-this-record/ -

Drummer Husky about Asphyx’s new album Necroceros

Dutch monsters known as Asphyx are equal to the notion of true, traditional Death/Doom Metal. They belong among those few groups that never released a single bad record – in my humble opinion. This year the band came out with its tenth effort, titled Necroceros and drummer Stefan „Husky” Hüskens was kind enough to share his thoughts about this new masterpiece.

Husky, although you have been for six years the drummer of Asphyx, how did you join them to replace Bob Bagchus? Were you their first choice or did they audition other drummers as well?

Hey, how are you? I hope all is fine and the pandemia didn’t hit you that hard and all your friends and family are in good health! To your question… I think I was first choice. After Bob told them that he can’t/will not do any longer Asphyx, I think Martin and Alwin spoke about new drummers and Alwin told them to ask me. After they did I was really surprised and proud being asked from 1 or your 2 alltime faves to pound the drums. After the first rehearsal it was sure, that the chemistry between us is really something special. I am, like everyone in the band, is proud beeing an Aspyhx member. This means everything to me!

To what extent were you familiar with the band? What are your favourite releases of them?

I know Asphyx since my very beginnings in Death Metal. A friend of mine from my hometown showed me in the beginning of the 90’s The Rack and I was blown away! That was Death Metal I wanna listen to! Raw, dirty and heavy! From that time on I was a huge fan! And The Rack was always the non plus ultra for Death Metal. I was so proud to got in touch with Eric and Bob back in time when they started Soulburn which was back than nothing more or less than Asphyx! Wannes was a good friend of mine because Desaster and Pentacle placed many shows together back then. So after they returned as Asphyx to record/release The Wings of Inferno, Infernal (Desaster) and I did a show with Asphyx, Warhammer and Divine Genocide (with Guido/Sataniac on vokills/bass) at our local youth club which was sold out and that was also the key point why Sataniac joined Desaster some years later! Funnywise Hont, new drummer in Desaster also was playing drums that night for Divine Genocide.

Before I ask you about the new record, what kind of purposes did the Last One on Earth single serve that was released in August by Church of Vinyl Records?

I was suprised when I saw pics of this on Facebook. All older releases are of course in the hands of Bob and Eric. So they sometimes allow people to do some special releases and we normally get a free copy. Which makes me as a collector more than happy. I love that shape, looks amazing!

At which point did you start writing the material for the new album?

Oh, we started writing the new album some years ago. But I must say that Asphyx is a kinda rehearsing lazy. We had like 3-5 rehearsals for the whole record before we entered the studio. Most songwriting we do at the recording studio. Paul comes up with ideas and than we start working on the construction of the song. So at the end, since the last album was out, Paul started collecting new riffs for Necroceros.

Your chief songwriter is guitarist Paul Baayens, does it mean, that all of the songs were written by him alone or did you also conduce with any ideas?

I am a drummer, no musician…. :-). So I can’t write any riffs etc. I can help to build a song with riffs, but the riff must come from someone else! And Paul is the riffmaster in Asphyx. He is the master! He knows how Asphyx 2020 has to sound like. I love his Black Sabbathized riffing. All his riffs are true headbangers and fistraisers!

According to singer Martin Van Drunen, the guys started jamming with all the riffs and arranging the songs together. Did you also engage in those rehearsals or did you work out your parts for yourself and sent them to the guys?

There is no his or my part in Asphyx. We work as a real band. As I said, Paul comes up with riffs and some drum beats. All the rest we do together at the recording studio.

How much material did he have written? In what aspects did you choose the songs that made the record?

We had 1,5 songs extra, which will be on the special edition of the record. Full Death Metal scenario is a fast banger. Martin is telling his thoughts about the whole Covid-19 shit. That lyrics were written right after the first lockdown in March. Second song is only a half song called Death Doom Division and it was kinda make Century Media nervous. Paul found out that on the drums of Botox Implosion another riff, more 80’ speed/thrash style, also fitted. So he recorded a half song with that riffs and we sung over it with massive choruses and high screams. After that we have sent out that song to our contact at CM and told him that it’s time for Asphyx to turn into new ways. To sell more records and get rich!… :-). I think in the first second he really thought we would mean that serious! We were laughing our balls off! But honestly don’t take that song serious, it was to blame Century Media thing.

Did there remain any stuff that wasn’t used and put away for an EP or for the next album?

No!

How did the recording sessions go?

We had like 2 weekends for drum recordings and rehearsal. Was good fun with some beer and snacks. First rehearsal/recording was in the middle of the first lockdown. We all had to take care to keep the 1,5 m distance, but it worked fine and all was good and safe. I thought, since the recording studio is in Enschede/NL I maybe cannot enter the Netherlands, but there still is no controls at the border! After all drums were recorded, Alwin and Paul recorded bass and guitars at Paul’s Mörser Studios, which took a couple of weeks and after that was done, Mr. Van Drunen started screaming on the new songs! Amazing times and goosebumps alarm! For this we went back to Tom Meier Recordings in Enschede!

How do you view that you have clicked into a higher a gear this time around capitalizing the free time to deliever your finest record yet?

To be honest Corona wasn’t the reason we started writing and recording a new album! That was planned earlier than this fuckin virus! It was just time for a new Deathdoomageddon!

Do you agree with Martin’s words, that since the previous Incoming Death, nothing has changed, you are well played-in together and it keeps getting better?

Yes, the understanding in the band is better than ever. We play along kinda blind and everyone knows what’s up with the others. Even me as a non-dutch guy, we are a huge family and Martin, Paul and Alwin are like real brothers for me! And this you also feel in the music and see/feel on stage!

Is the actual line up of Asphyx the most stabile, strongest one in the band’s career?

Yes, it is! Absolute! I am in the band since 2014. Six fuckin’ years! Still proud being a member of this cult band from the Netherlands!

Botox Implosion was published in early November; did it really represent what the new album is about as a whole?

Yeah, the Botox Implosion videoclip was good fun to film… :-). But in my eyes this song is only 50% representative for the new album. Necroceros in complete is a bit more heavier, darker and doomy than this song. But as you know, Asphyx is always a mix of heavy, doomy, catchy riffs and fast fucker!

In your opinion, is Necroceros manifestly heavier and more vicious than anything Asphyx have released before?

No, every Asphyx record is HEAVY! Even with all the line up changes, the red line never got lost and Asphyx was always a name for high quality death doom! Necroceros is the next step after Incoming Death and looks like it will be the next milestone in the band’s history! But this is nothing we can say, this is something our fans have to do! I am very, extremely proud of this record, since in my opinion this is the best what we can do at the moment and we worked with a lot of passion and enthusiasm on this record!

As far as I’m concerned Three Years of Famine and the closing title track are the highlights…

Thanks a lot! For me every song is a highlight, but I guess especialy live Knight Templar… and Yield or Die will be hard neckbreaker!

It was partly inspired by the horrors and frustrations of the pandemic era, isn’t it? Did the lockdown put its stamp on your mood a lot, while you were working?

Not really, it was more that we had enough time for anything else. Alwin is still working, Paul also. Martin is at home and myself is renovating a house. So it was good to write and record the album in March! But Corona was not a big influence on that record! Fuck it! This little virus asshole is destroying our dreams!

What are your comments regarding the title? What does it refer to?

We build a new huge monster which is called Necroceros. Maybe we start a comic series! The incredible Necroceros! Yes, that was Martin’s idea behind the title! The doomy monster known as Necroceros! I loved it from the beginning! It is the right title for this record. Necroceros is heavy, doomy and brutal! So, if someone wanna do a comic, let us know!

How about soundwise? According to Martin, the only thing the band changed is, that you wanted to try out something with a different mixer. Did Sebastian Levermann manage to do what you wanted to achieve the album with?

Even better! We thought it was time for a change soundwise. Seeb is more wellknown for recording/mixing heavy/speed/bombast metal bands. But I knew that he is a huge Death Metal and specially Asphyx fan. So we checked with him. I am really happy with the sound. For me and my drums there is no better recording exisiting than this! 2nd best was The Arts of Destruction from Desaster and Seven Inches for the Second Attack by Metal Inquisitor! Really happy and satisfied with Seeb’s job! I love Swanö and I am a huge fan of Edge Of Sanity and most of his other projects. But it was time for a change.

Does Necroceros somewhat differ in terms of sound, songwriting, arrangement etc. compared to its predecessor or to the early Asphyx releases?

Like in all Aspyhx albums you still can find the red line. Even after so many line up changes, the Asphyx vibe is on every record. But of course Paul is a different guitar player than Eric for example. But we all in the band know how Asphyx has to sound like. On the new album we tried a new guy behind the mixing desk. Seeb from Greenmann Studios (Orden Ogan) took over and we are soooo happy with the result. He did an amazing job! But as written before all sounds still Asphyx-ish!

Are all of you satisfied with the end result? Does the album remain true to the band’s seminal legacy?

Since I started listen to metal I am also a huge Asphyx fan, so I know how Asphyx need to sound like. I think in every record you find the red line and that’s what Asphyx is all about. Death Metal! Aspyhx is a huge family. We are still in contact with most all of the older members and escpecially Bob is kinda involved. Most things we do let him know and he is happy where Asphyx is now.

Asphyx’s debut record The Rack turns 30 in 2021; are there any plans in mind performing the whole material in live situation? What are your plans for 2021 in general?

We’ll have a Live Stream Release show in 2 weeks. Many shows are booked and planned, but lets see how the fuckin’ virus situation is going. We are ready to enter the stages again and bring Necroceros to the masses! Lets hope the best!

Are you, Paul Baayens and bassist Alwin Zuur still involved in any other bands/projects or are you fully concentrating on Asphyx?

Paul is still in Thanatos and Siege of Power. Alwin is in Berzerker Legion, Gods Forsaken and Grand Supreme Bloodcourt (tbc). Myself is in Carnal Ghoul, Rotten Casket and Trinitas so far. I try to do some more stuff with Rotten Casket at the moment. Carnal Ghoul is on ice and Trinitas is kinda project.

Husky, thanks a lot for your answers! Please, share your last thoughts with the Hungarian readers!

Thanks for this interview! Wish you all a lot of health and lets hope that the virus is crushed down soon! We need live shows again! Check our the new album and stay METAL! Cheers!

#interjú

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mcbastardsmausoleum · 4 years ago

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All 8 titles announced for the Severin Films BLACK FRIDAY SALE - DETAILS!

Severin Films have now announced the full line up of their Annual Severin Films' Black Friday Sale! New to the announcement are the rarely-seen EuroSleaze masterpiece CASTLE OF THE CREEPING FLESH, our brand new original production TALES OF THE UNCANNY: THE ULTIMATE SURVEY OF ANTHOLOGY HORROR which includes three feature length horror anthologies, Buddy Giovinazzo's explosive – and long-unseen – drama NO WAY HOME (limited to 2,500 numbered copies), and THE COLOUR OUT OF SPACE Audio Book, read by Richard Stanley and packaged in a purple clamshell case with digital download code. The sale also will include the first ever authorized Blu-ray release of Severin's original horror anthology THE THEATRE BIZARRE in special 2-disc digipak packaging with slipcase, the Blu-ray premiere of the hallucinatory horror in THE ATTIC EXPEDITIONS featuring Seth Green, Jeffrey Combs, Ted Raimi and Alice Cooper, a new edition of PLAGUE TOWN packed with illuminating bonus features with slipcase, and the worldwide Blu-ray premiere of Douglas Buck's devastating anthology FAMILY PORTRAITS.

There are also two new episodes of the Severin Films Podcast! Both episodes feature surprise special guests and the smooth sounds of

RENDEZVOUS!

After Hours too!

https://linktr.ee/severinfilms

CASTLE OF THE CREEPING FLESH

(1968)

From writer/director Adrian Hoven – creator of the infamous MARK OF THE DEVIL – comes a rarely-seen EuroSleaze masterpiece packed with krimi depravity, mondo-style shocks and graphic gothic insanity: When a group of bourgeois swingers stumble upon the creepy castle of the cursed Earl of Saxon, they’ll discover an unholy nightmare of sexual violence, bombastic philosophy, deranged performances, grisly medical experiments, inappropriate music cues and one very pissed off bear. A stellar cast of Jess Franco regulars including Janine Raynaud (SUCCUBUS), Howard Vernon (SHE KILLED IN ECSTASY) and Michel Lemoine (KISS ME MONSTER) star in this sumptuous platter of late ‘60s filthwürst – also known as CASTLE OF BLOODY LUST – now scanned uncut & uncensored from the German negative for the first time ever in America.

Special Features:

- Adrian in the Castle of Bloody Lust – Archival Interview with Joyce Hoven and Percy Hoven

- MARK OF THE DEVIL Q&A with The Hoven Family at Austrian Pulp Film Fest

- Locations Featurette

- Trailers – English / German / Alt Title APPOINTMENT WITH LUST

- Textless Opening Credit Sequence

- German Opening Credit Sequence

Exclusive Black Friday Edition includes a Limited Slip Case!

Specs:

Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1

Audio: English Mono and German Mono

Subtitles: English

Closed Captions: English SDH

Region Free

TALES OF THE UNCANNY:

THE ULTIMATE SURVEY OF ANTHOLOGY HORROR

(2020)

When Covid-19 hit, Severin Films chief David Gregory and House Of Psychotic Women author Kier-La Janisse decided to ask their industry friends which Top 5 films and segments that would make the ultimate horror anthology. The result became an international Zoom-enabled documentary featuring Eli Roth, Joe Dante, Greg Nicotero, Mark Hartley, Mick Garris, Ernest Dickerson, Joko Anwar, Ramsey Campbell, David DeCoteau, Kim Newman, Jovanka Vuckovic, Luigi Cozzi, Tom Savini, Jenn Wexler, Larry Fessenden, Richard Stanley, Brian Trenchard-Smith, Brian Yuzna, Gary Sherman, Rebekah McKendry and Roger Corman in a candid discussion of the best portmanteaus in film/TV history. As a Bonus, Severin is proud to include the rarely-seen 1919 German compendium EERIE TALES, the thought-lost 1949 French/Belgian anthology HISTORIES EXTRAORDINAIRE/UNUSUAL TALES, and a limited second disc with Black Friday Exclusive Bonus Horror Anthology: MASTER OF HORROR (1965) Scanned in 2k from Jack H. Harris’ dupe negative.

Special Features:

- Bonus Horror Anthology: EERIE TALES (1919) from broadcast tape master

- Bonus Horror Anthology: UNUSUAL TALES (1949) New 2k scan from only known 16mm print from Brussels Film Archive

- Limited second disc with Black Friday Exclusive Bonus Horror Anthology: MASTER OF HORROR (1965) Scanned in 2k from Jack H. Harris’ dupe negative.

- Exclusive Limited Black Friday Edition includes Disc 2 MASTER OF HORROR feature!

Specs:

Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1

Audio: English 2.0

Closed Captions: English

Region Free

THE COLOUR OUT OF SPACE

(Audio Book)

“West of Arkham the hills rise wild, and there are valleys with deep woods that no axe has ever cut.” So begins this legendary sci-fi/horror tale by H.P. Lovecraft about a meteorite that crashes in the fictional New England town of Arkham and proceeds to deform all vegetation on “the blasted heath” while driving its inhabitants slowly and homicidally insane. Read by award-winning filmmaker Richard Stanley – whose 2019 movie adaptation starring Nicolas Cage was called “a trippy rainbow of the gory and grotesque” (Daily Mirror) – The Colour Out Of Space remains one of the most startling and significant works in modern horror history.

Read by award-winning filmmaker Richard Stanley – HARDWARE, DUST DEVIL, COLOR OUT OF SPACE – "The Colour Out Of Space" remains one of the most startling and significant works in modern horror history.

Specs:

Purple cassette tape of audio recording

Digital download code of audio recording

Total run time: 84 minutes

THE THEATRE BIZARRE

(2011)

The concept was unprecedented: Enlist seven of horror’s most transgressive filmmakers – Douglas Buck (FAMILY PORTRAITS), Buddy Giovinazzo (COMBAT SHOCK), David Gregory (PLAGUE TOWN), Karim Hussain (SUBCONSCIOUS CRUELTY), Jeremy Kasten (THE ATTIC EXPEDITIONS), splatter FX legend Tom Savini and Richard Stanley (HARDWARE) – and give them total creative freedom to create their own short films inspired by the Grand Guignol.The result – starring genre icons like Udo Kier (FLESH FOR FRANKENSTEIN), Catriona MacColl (THE BEYOND), Lynn Lowry (THE CRAZIES) and Debbie Rochon (AMERICAN NIGHTMARE) – has been called “wildly unique” (Dread Central), “hilarious, grotesque and scary” (Bloody Disgusting) and “one of the best horror anthologies of all time” (Paste). Experience “a trip you’ll never forget” (Mondo Digital), finally officially available on Blu-ray with hours of exclusive Special Features.

Special Features:

- 2020 Filmmakers Audio Commentary

- 2012 Filmmakers Audio Commentary

- Backstage: The Making of THE THEATRE BIZARRE - New feature length documentary featuring interviews with Directors Douglas Buck, Buddy Giovinazzo, David Gregory, Karim Hussain, Jeremy Kasten, Tom Savini, Richard Stanley, Producers Daryl J. Tucker, Fabrice Lambot, Michael Ruggiero, Actors Udo Kier, Catriona MacColl, Lynn Lowry, Victoria Maurette, Kaniehtiio Horn and more.

- French TV On-Set Report on Richard Stanley's Return to Genre Filmmaking

- Making of VISION STAINS by Filmmaker Pat Tremblay

- Making of THE ACCIDENT by Filmmaker Pat Tremblay

- Shock Till You Drop's Choice Cuts with Buddy Giovinazzo

- Shock Till You Drop's Choice Cuts with David Gregory

- Shock Till You Drop's Choice Cuts with Jeremy Kasten

- Boswell Scores - Interview with THE MOTHER OF TOADS & VISION STAINS Soundtrack Composer Simon Boswell

- THE MOTHER OF TOADS - Extended Cut

-Trailers

Exclusive to this Limited Black Friday Edition are an exclusive Slip Case and fold-out Digipak (showcasing original artwork for each anthology segment), as well as the first ever official soundtrack CD (with compositions by Simon Boswell, Susan DiBona, Bobb Freund, Pierre Marchand, Eric Powell and Mark Raskin).

Specs:

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1

Audio: English 5.1 & 2.0, French 2.0

Closed Captions: English SDH

Region Free

THE ATTIC EXPEDITIONS

(2001)

It’s been called “imaginative and audacious” (Los Angeles Times), “fantastic and surreal” (Classic Horror) and “an ideal film that verges towards masterpiece” (Weird Wild Realm). Now experience the Blu-ray premiere of the hallucinatory debut by director Jeremy Kasten (THE DEAD ONES, THE THEATRE BIZARRE, THE WIZARD OF GORE remake) about a young man committed to an asylum where madness, mayhem and murder may rip apart his mind forever. Seth Green (ROBOT CHICKEN), Jeffrey Combs (RE-ANIMATOR), Andras Jones (A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 4), Ted Raimi (SKINNER), Wendy Robie (TWIN PEAKS) and Alice Cooper star in the 2001 shocker Fangoria hailed as “an ambitious first feature laced with a wonderful cast, quirky charms and cool twists”, scanned in 2k from the original negative with all-new special features.

Special Features:

- Cast & Crew 20 Year Pandemic Reunion & Story of Making THE ATTIC EXPEDITIONS, featuring Jeremy Kasten, Seth Green, Jeffrey Combs, Tim Heidecker and many more

- Alice Cooper & Jeffrey Combs Internet Reunion

- Horror Scholar Adam Rockoff Contextualizes THE ATTIC EXPEDITIONS

Exclusive Limited Black Friday Edition includes the first ever release of the original motion picture soundtrack CD.

Specs:

Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1

Audio: English 5.1 & 2.0

Closed Captions: English

Region 0/Free

PLAGUE TOWN

(2008)

A tourist family lost in the Irish countryside. A remote village that hides a hideous secret. And the taboo-bashing indie horror milestone that has been called “maniacally twisted” (Horror News), “chilling and disturbing” (Blu-ray.com) and “an experience that goes where most mainstream horror fears to tread” (Fangoria). Experience this “brilliant” (Quiet Earth) hybrid of grisly ‘70s shockers and graphic 21st century folk-horror – hailed as “an icy hand gradually sliding along the back of your neck for 90 minutes” (Mondo Digital) – from co-writer/director David Gregory (BLOOD & FLESH: THE REEL LIFE & GHASTLY DEATH OF AL ADAMSON) and the producers of STAKELAND, now featuring an uncensored HD master and Special Features produced exclusively for this edition.

Special Features:

- 2009 Audio Commentary - Audio Commentary with Director David Gregory & Producer Derek Curl

- White Lace & Button Eyes - The Making of PLAGUE TOWN by Documentary Filmmaker Howard S. Berger

- A Visit to Plague Town - Behind the Scenes Featurette

- The Sounds of Plague Town

- Trailer

- Short Films - SCATHED, TIL DEATH

Exclusive Limited Black Friday Edition includes exclusive Slip Case and the first ever release of the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack CD.

Specs:

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Audio: English 5.1 & 2.0

Closed Captions: English

Region 0/Free

FAMILY PORTRAITS

(2006)

Over the course of seven years, three short films about the brutal dissolution of the American family – Cutting Moments (1997), Home (1998) and Prologue (2003) – elicited both horrified gasps and standing ovations at film festivals around the world. When combined into a theatrical feature, this trilogy by writer/producer/director/editor Douglas Buck – whose directing credits would eventually include the SISTERS remake and ‘The Accident’ segment of THE THEATRE BIZARRE – was hailed as “nightmarish” (The New York Times), “like Todd Solondz on crack” (Digitally Obsessed) and “the most chilling portrait of the loss of humanity in the manicured lawns of Middle America ever made” (LA Weekly). Buck’s “unbearably intense and enormously moving” (Filmecho) stunner is now scanned in 2k from the original negative for the first time ever with all-new Special Features.

Special Features:

- Commentary with Director Douglas Buck

- Commentary with Maitland McDonagh

- AFTER ALL - Early Short Film

- CUTTING MOMENTS Interviews, Circa 1998

- That’s Dark - Podcast on CUTTING MOMENTS & Interview with Director Douglas Buck

- Deleted Scene - Prologue

- Behind the Scenes - Prologue

- Stills Galleries

- Trailer

Specs:

Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1

Audio: English Mono

Closed Captions: English

Region 0/Free

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corkcrab7-blog · 6 years ago

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A Beginners’ Guide to Cult Psych Icons the Legendary Pink Dots

Photo by Alberto Garcia

Venture over to the Legendary Pink Dots’ Bandcamp page and you might feel a bit overwhelmed. Over three and a half decades in, the Anglo-Dutch band have amassed an overflowing cache of full-length albums, archival releases, and holiday-themed one-offs. And that’s without factoring in the respectively ample solo discographies of founding members Edward Ka-Spel and The Silverman (Phil Knight); or their side project, The Tear Garden.

Founded in 1980, The Legendary Pink Dots have been pushing psychedelic music through the late 20th century and well into the 21st. They draw from the influence of ’70s German rock outfits like Can and Neu!, but their sound is never a flashback. Instead, they emerged from the electronic music underground of the early 1980s with a distinct sound that makes them difficult to pigeonhole to this day. The Legendary Pink Dots’ wheelhouse proves equally welcoming to fans of post-punk and minimal synth, industrial and darkwave—and yet, the band themselves aren’t quite any of those things. They’ve spent decades evolving, hitting multiple peaks throughout their career as the line-up expanded and contracted. Their oeuvre reflects that winding journey, from the dark, orchestral heaviness of the ’80s, to the psych-pop haze of the early ’90s, to the sci-fi electronics of the aughts.

The Legendary Pink Dots have remained a cult band amongst cult bands. They haven’t become post-punk memes like Joy Division or Bauhaus have. Nevertheless, their following includes some well-known devotees. Skinny Puppy’s cEvin Key is known for having followed Legendary Pink Dots’ work since the band’s early years, and collaborated with Ka-Spel as The Tear Garden (they’ve released seven albums together since 1985, the most recent being 2017’s The Brown Acid Caveat). Singer-songwriter and erstwhile Dresden Doll Amanda Palmer is another longtime fan; just last year, she linked up with Ka-Spel and ex-Dots violinist Patrick Q. Wright for a one-off collaborative LP album titled I Can Spin a Rainbow. Last but not least, MGMT singled out the Dots—more specifically, their stylistic flexibility—as a source of inspiration for their breakthrough album, 2007’s indie-pop blockbuster Oracular Spectacular.

Needless to say, immersing oneself in the Legendary Pink Dots’ universe is deeply rewarding—and a bit overwhelming. Here’s a list of 10 standouts from the first 30 years of the band’s career to help you get started.

Brighter Now

The Legendary Pink Dots’ formative years coincide with the development of industrial music, so it can be really easy to think of them as emerging from that movement. After all, Edward Ka-Spel has collaborated with cEvin Key of Skinny Puppy (The Tear Garden) and Nurse with Wound’s Steven Stapleton. Back in 1991, though, Ka-Spel described the band’s early sound to Spiral Scratch Magazine as “more like industrial… nursery rhymes!” That stands as an apt description of the Dots’ 1982 vinyl debut, Brighter Now. It’s an oddball album in the band’s catalog; at times its songs resemble stripped-down versions of early ’80s synthpop as opposed to the dense, electronic rock that would follow, but there are moments throughout that point to where the Dots were heading.

The Tower

True to its title—a reference to the infamous Tower of London—1984’s The Tower is an album shaped by British politics, namely Margaret Thatcher’s policies and the then-Prime Minister’s chumminess with Chilean dictator General Augusto Pinochet. It’s a dark album, with a sound reflecting the urgency and frustration of the subject matter. Guitar, synths, and violin build into walls of sound every bit as claustrophobic and threatening as a castle prison. Ka-Spel had proved himself to be a charming and poetic singer and lyricist by the time of the record’s release—but on songs like “Break Day” and “Tower 1,” he proved just how visceral he could be, as well.

Island of Jewels

Photo by Dampfzentrale Bern

Released in 1986, Island of Jewels was the first album for The Legendary Pink Dots’ contract with notable indie label Play It Again Sam, a move that helped garner wider recognition for the band. At times, Island of Jewels takes on the qualities of film music, its songs tooled to guide listeners through a series of tense scenes and dramatic turns of events: “Emblem Parade” may well be the soundtrack to a long-lost Alfred Hitchcock film set in an ’80s nightclub. The record’s legacy is just as complicated as its sound. Ka-Spel seemed ambivalent when discussing Island of Jewels in an interview for Ptolemaic Terrascope in 1991, remarking, “Some of our best and worst moments are on that album”—but over 20 years later, he embraced it wholeheartedly in the Bandcamp description for its 2012 reissue, declaring it “one of the best albums The Dots ever made.”

The Golden Age

One of the most curious aspects of the Legendary Pink Dots is the band’s sizable goth following—a befuddling degree of popularity, given their lack of ties to the scene proper. The Golden Age might be part of the reason for this. The band’s 1988 album is the home of “Black List,” a long, moody, and rhythmic number that has had its fair share of spins inside goth clubs. It’s also a downright creepy album. Ka-Spel is a true storyteller and here he tells chilling tales with menacing characters and mysteries lurking under vivid poetry. The Golden Age was made while the Dots were at a crossroads; half the band left following tour and Ka-Spel and the Silverman were living in a caravan. The resulting album has more of a minimal sound than, for example, Island of Jewels, adding to the sinister vibe.

The Crushed Velvet Apocalypse

The Crushed Velvet Apocalypse, originally released in 1990, is perhaps the most accessible Legendary Pink Dots album. If your tastes lean towards sing-a-long songs, you can get into this album fast, but you might also lose yourself in the more atmospheric moments of cuts like “Green Gang.” It’s also one of their most masterful albums. The Dots shows their chops at crossing genres as they deftly move through music that ranges from the delicate folk of “I Love You in Your Tragic Beauty” to the harsh electronic sound of “Hellsville.” Lyrically, Ka-Spel is at his best—whimsical, yet witty and poignant. “Princess Coldheart” is a dark, cheeky fairytale spun in a song that’s about as pop as the Dots will ever get, but “Just a Lifetime” brings together sci-fi and fantasy imagery that taps into a very real sense of unease about the future. His line, “A fire-eater went insane and torched the final tree,” rings more relevant now in the era of climate change and catastrophic brush fires.

The Maria Dimension

Ideally, you should listen to The Maria Dimension right after The Crushed Velvet Apocalypse. The albums were released about a year apart and represent The Legendary Pink Dots’ transition into the 1990s. Where “Pennies for Heaven” and “Belladonna” harks to the songwriting on The Crushed Velvet Apocalypse, much of the rest of the album pushes the band’s sound further into psychedelic realms. That’s thanks in part to the songwriting and recording process. In a 2015 Blurt interview, Ka-Spel explained that The Maria Dimension came into being after a month of improvisation. For the curious, some of those improv moments can be found on The Maria Sessions, also available through the Dots’ Bandcamp site.

Hallway of the Gods

The Legendary Pink Dots have spent their career doing their own thing, but, in 1997, that thing serendipitously fell in line with what was happening in the indie rock world. The band’s krautrock influences took a softer turn, resulting in songs like the tender ballad “Sterre,” the chilled-out space rock of “Lucifer Landed,” and the wild sci-fi jam “The Saucers Are Coming.” Hallway of the Gods sounds perfectly comfortable next to other releases from that year, like Stereolab’s Dots and Loops, Broadcast’s Work and Non-Work, and Spiritualized’s Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space. But, The Legendary Pink Dots were already more than 15 years into existence. They had an established following and had already produced a large catalog of work. Perhaps that lack of newness led to Hallway of the Gods being sorely overlooked.

Chemical Playschool Volumes 11, 12 & 13

Chemical Playschool is a series of The Legendary Pink Dots releases that date back to early in the band’s history, when they were made as very limited-edition cassettes. This is the space where the Dots can get really weird and creative. Cassettes with handmade covers? They tried that in the early ‘80s. By the new millenium, though, the question was, “What could you do with the CD format?” First released in 2001, Chemical Playschool 11, 12, 13 was initially conceived as a three-CD set with three hours of music that were only paused while the discs changed. The material came in part from existing tapes and included new compositions, all of which become a seamless collage where Ka-Spel’s vocals are meticulously placed across the atmospheric canvas. The release is split up into more manageable chunks on the Bandcamp release. However, that still means that you’re getting a few tracks that hover around (and over) the 40 minute mark—more than enough time to zone out.

Plutonium Blonde

With a band whose history is as long as The Legendary Pink Dots’, it’s easy to concentrate on the early releases and leave it at that. Don’t make that mistake: the Dots continued to move forward in the 21st century with work that is every bit as interesting as the albums that garnered their initial fan base. 2008’s Plutonium Blonde might be the best example, melding borderline-ambient moments with Ka-Spel’s weird and wonderful stories. Whereas “An Arm & a Leg” plays out as a captivating mini radio drama for a modern audience, “Mailman” uncharacteristically steps into country terrain, albeit country with a space-rock twist.

Seconds Late for the Brighton Line

Released in 2010, Seconds Late for the Brighton Line coincided with The Legendary Pink Dots’ 30th anniversary, as well a time of transition: longtime members Martijn De Kleer and Niels van Hoorn left the fold before the band hit the studio. (Erik Drost, who played with the band earlier in the ’00s and appeared on albums like Poppy Variations and The Whispering Wall, rejoined the Dots founding members Edward Ka-Spel and The Silverman.) One might think that, with a shrunken line-up, the band would go for a simpler sound, but that’s not the case. There’s still a lot going on here, and it takes multiple listens to discover all the sounds tucked into this collection of songs. “Endless Time,” one of the album’s standout tracks, uses a clock-like rhythm to introduce a soothing melody that very gently crashes into waves of noise. “God & Machines” uses atmospheric noise to heighten the spectral quality in Ka-Spel’s voice, creating the sound of an unknown and uncomfortable afterlife.

-Liz Ohanesian

Source: https://daily.bandcamp.com/2018/12/04/legendary-pink-dots-primer/

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wbwest · 7 years ago

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New Post has been published on WilliamBruceWest.com

New Post has been published on http://www.williambrucewest.com/2017/05/19/west-week-ever-pop-culture-review-51917-upfronts-edition/

West Week Ever: Pop Culture In Review - 5/19/17 (Upfronts Edition)

Since this is my 4th annual network TV upfronts recap, we’re doing things a bit differently this week. So, sit back and hunker down, as this is gonna be a long one!

First up, I joined my buddy @ClassickMateria for the Classick Team-Up! Podcast last week, and the episode is now available to download. We chatted about Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2, recent TV news, and everything else under the sun. Definitely check it out here!

Things You Might Have Missed This Week

Avi Kaplan quit the Grammy Award-winning a cappella group Pentatonix, because he missed his friends and family. I dunno about you, but I think that money could replace them!

Katy Perry has signed on as the first judge on ABC’s American Idol reboot, while there are reports that Idol finalist Chris Daughtry is in talks to join the show

The Big Bang Theory star Jim Parsons married his longtime partner, Todd Spiewak

The Flash cast member Keiynan Lonsdale came out as bisexual in an Instagram post

Hamilton‘s Daveed Diggs will star in TNT’s Snowpiercer pilot, based on the film, based on the French graphic novel

Conan O’Brien’s contract with TBS has been renewed through 2022, though no word on whether his show will switch to a weekly format as previously rumored.

DC stays losing, as actor Billy Crudup has left the Flash film, while it’s reported that Sam Raimi has turned down the director job

Power Rangers movie Black Ranger Ludi Lin has joined DC’s Aquaman film in the role of “Murk”, whoever that is…

Fox News personality, and former wife of California Lt Governor Gavin Newsom, Kimberly Guilfoyle has stated that she is currently being considered by the Trump Administration to replace Sean Spicer as White House Press Secretary. Gee, wonder what they see in her…

After 9 seasons, this weekend’s season finale will by Bobby Moynihan’s final episode of Saturday Night Live, as his series Me, Myself, and I was picked up at CBS.

LEGO Marvel Superheroes 2 was announced, but it won’t be on the Xbox 360, so it means nothing to me

In the Live Stage Show on TV department, Fox announced that they will air A Christmas Story Live in December, followed by Rent Live later in the season. Meanwhile, ABC will air The Wonderful World of Disney: The Little Mermaid Live in October

I covered a ton of renewals and cancellations that went down last week, but this week was no different, as the networks had to lock in their schedules for the fall. Here’s what’s been canceled/renewed since the last time we talked:

Cancellations

Shots Fired (Fox)

2 Broke Girls (CBS)

Baby Daddy (Freeform)

The Great Indoors (CBS)

Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders (CBS)

Scream Queens (Fox)

The Odd Couple (CBS)

Training Day (CBS)

Ransom (CBS)

Renewals

Brooklyn Nine-Nine (Fox)

Speechless (ABC)

Fresh Off The Boat (ABC)

The Son (AMC)

The Exorcist (?! – Fox)

Timeless (uncanceled by NBC)

Law & Order: SVU (NBC)

Elementary (CBS)

The Amazing Race (CBS)

Quantico (ABC)

New Girl (abbreviated 8-episode final season, with 3 year time jump – Fox)

Code Black (CBS)

Arrested Development (Netflix)

courtesy of TVLine.com

So, as I pointed out up top, this was Upfronts Week for the major networks, where they unveil their fall schedules to reporters and critics. I’ve got to say that this upcoming season does very little for me. While last year’s presentations had me excited, this year’s stuff just looks like retreads of ideas we’ve already had or obvious film scripts that have been adapted for television. That’s something that you’re going to notice a lot this year: shows that would probably make decent movies, but aren’t something you’d want to check in on a weekly basis. The week started with NBC’s presentation, so let’s start with their new shows:

NBC

NBC renewed a big chunk of their schedule, and they’re holding a lot of their new shows for midseason (for which they didn’t give us trailers!), so there’s not a lot of new for the Fall.

youtube

The Brave – Formerly known as For God and Country, The Brave follows a multicultural team doing what I call “soldier shit”. That’s not to minimize what soldiers do; it’s just that there are certain things, like rescuing hostages, killing terrorists, etc, that are pretty much taken care of mainly by soldiers. Ya know, soldier shit. There are a lot of soldier shit shows coming this season, and this is merely one of them. We’re not necessarily in the most patriotic place right now, so I don’t know how these shows will fair. The trailer gives away the whole pilot, so do with that what you will. There’s an audience for this show, but I’m not it. Airing Mondays at 10, it’ll have a great lead-in in the form of The Voice, and its main competition in the timeslot will be Scorpion on CBS. By all accounts, it should have a fighting chance, so it’s The Brave‘s game to lose.

youtube

Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders – I guess enough time has passed that this case is considered “sexy” now. Back in the early 90s, the Menendez Brothers killed their parents and it was a big deal. The brothers went to jail, where they started amassing groupies like they were in a boyband or something. I’m not even lying! Anyway, this is an anthology series, so it really doesn’t matter how it does. If it does well, we get another installment based on another real life crime. If it flops, then they can just act like it was a One & Done idea, and throw it out like all the other Law & Order spinoffs we’ve had over the years. It’s only 8 episodes long, and the timeslot goes to Chicago Med once it’s done. Anyway, it’s perched atop NBC’s newly rechristened Must See Thursday Night, with This Is Us as a lead-in, so they clearly expect big things from it. Its competition will be How To Get Away With Murder, which is by far the lowest rated of the ABC Shondaland dramas, and Shemar Moore’s S.W.A.T. over on CBS. I think it’ll do just fine.

youtube

Will & Grace – So, this show’s back. Yay? I really loved the show in its original run, but I didn’t need it back. And while I barely remember its series finale, I remember something about Will & Grace not having spoken to each other for 15 years. So, is that out the window now? Who cares, I guess. I mean, if they can bring Roseanne back with all its continuity issues (yeah, I’ll get to that), then they can pull this off. I just don’t really know what the endgame is here. I mean, besides the fact that we’re in the Trump Administration, has the world really changed that much to be reflected in this show? I mean, any rights Will or Jack were granted are basically about to be taken away any day now, but is the show even going to go there? I just don’t see the point of this one. But it’s only, like, 12 episodes and, like all of these revivals, they’ll play it coy on longevity until they see how the numbers look. It’s going up against Grey’s Anatomy, Gotham on its new night, Supernatural, and The Big Bang Theory. Now, from a socioeconomic demographic standpoint, W&G and TBBT are going after different audiences, but I feel like the W&G audience moved on to Grey’s. It’ll be interesting to see how this one plays out.

Let’s talk about some of NBC’s moves. Both Thursday night veterans Superstore and The Good Place are shifting to Tuesdays at 9 and 9:30. Now, they will have The Voice as a lead-in, but I feel like they should’ve stayed on Thursday if NBC really wanted to rebuild that night. I get that This Is Us is the breakout hit of the season, but that doesn’t mean it’s time to move it. It means it’s gonna be an uphill battle for NBC’s Tuesday comedies, as they’ll now be going up against Black-ish on its new night, as well as the Fox combo of Brooklyn Nine-Nine and The Mick. As far as Tuesday comedies go, somebody’s gonna have to flinch. The Fox shows don’t do all that well, but the NBC shows are kinda precious right now. They need to be nurtured, which is what leaving them on Thursday would’ve done. The Blacklist, meanwhile, moves to Wednesdays at 8, where it’ll go up against the moved Riverdale and Empire. I think they all have different audiences, though, so it shouldn’t take too much of a hit. Thursday got blown up, with Great News getting the post-Will & Grace slot mainly because Tina Fey. And This Is Us on its new night will now go up against Scandal *in its final season*. The balls on NBC! I get that it’s their chance to install a show that could take over Thursday once Scandal is done, but this is a risky move. Meanwhile, Blindspot and Taken are moving to Fridays where they’ll die because they’re both bubble shows that were narrowly renewed in the first place.

Fox

Next up, we’ve got Fox, where a WHOLE lot of shows are moving around. As for their new shows, they all look like interesting movies, but they just don’t grab me enough to want to be a regular viewer. Fox is really good about that. I remember loving Lethal Weapon this season, and then I didn’t watch a single episode after the pilot. I see a lot of that happening this season.

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Ghosted – Wow, where to begin? Two regular guys are kidnapped and recruited by a top secret organization that investigates the supernatural. As for casting, you can’t really go wrong with Craig Robinson and Adam Scott. This show is basically Hot Tub Time Machine 3, with more of a supernatural twist. The problem, however, is that’s exactly what this should have been: a mid-budget theatrical release that later finds its audience when it airs monthly on FX. This isn’t a weekly series, regardless of the fact that Robinson and Scott have fanbases. It’s slotted between The Simpsons and Family Guy, which sounds like a good thing, but that’s where middling comedies go to die. This season alone, that slot killed Son of Zorn and Making History. Now, it doesn’t really fit anywhere else on Fox’s schedule, as its “out there” nature makes it more at home with the animation stuff than, say, with New Girl and The Mick. So, that rules out Tuesday nights, which is the only other place Fox does comedies. Another problem is that Fox Sunday night just hasn’t been strong since they abolished the Animation Domination block. The Simpsons is a decent performer, and they keep it around to break records, while Family Guy is a shell of its former self, yet they don’t want to be the network that canceled it TWICE. Last Man on Earth is constantly a show on the bubble. Sunday nights need a shot in the arm, but this isn’t the show to do it. I don’t see this one having legs.

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The Gifted – This is the one everyone’s got their eyes on. A spinoff of the X-Men films, this show follows a family on the run when they discover that their kids are mutants. It doesn’t help that their dad is a former mutant hunter, so it’s his employers who are after them. I mean, it looks OK, but I didn’t wet my pants or anything. It’ll be really hard to do anything mind-blowing with a weekly TV budget, but the pilot was directed by Bryan Singer, so that’s gonna put butts in seats. Hell, if Gotham is going into season 4 (now on Thursdays at 8), I think this thing can survive. It’s probably pretty expensive, but Fox has been wanting to expand their comic offerings (after all, Black Lightning was originally meant for them), so this will be a good fit for the post Lucifer slot. Speaking of Lucifer, I never thought I’d see the day when a show about The Devil would air during the 8 PM hour (its new timeslot). I wonder how they feel about that in the Bible Belt. After all, I originally said they weren’t gonna let the show survive, and here it is entering season 3. I sure called that one wrong!

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The Orville – I love the idea here, as it’s basically Galaxy Quest: The Series. I mean, it’s clear Seth MacFarlane has an affinity for Star Trek, even if he’s spent more time reenacting the Star Wars saga on Family Guy. I’d love for this show to work, but I’m sure it’s on the expensive side. Now, Seth’s got a relationship with Fox, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they canceled it. It looks like the kind of show Fox loves to cancel. Now, it’s going up against Scandal and This Is Us, but I don’t think they share an audience. However, Arrow has been moved to Thursdays at 9, which I feel is its closest competition, as far as the male 18-49 demographic is concerned. There’s no way it wins its timeslot, so the question is what will Fox consider a “success” as far as its ratings go?

So, Fox’s moves are interesting. Lethal Weapon moves to Tuesday at 8, where it’ll go against The Voice, NCIS, and The Flash. It won’t win the timeslot, but maybe it can take some of The Flash‘s audience away from it. The Mick nows leads into Brooklyn Nine-Nine, as it’s now the stronger comedy, while Nine-Nine narrowly got renewed. On Wednesday, they moved Empire to 8, hoping it’ll be a good lead-in for Star. I honestly don’t think Star is a winner, and I think the only reason it got renewed was because A) it was created by Lee Daniels and B) its initial run was too short for them to gauge whether or not it was a success. For people looking for a nighttime soap as sudsy as Empire, they’re probably gonna choose the Dynasty reboot over on The CW, airing at the same time as Star. Meanwhile, Gotham moves to Thursday at 8, where it’ll go against The Big Bang Theory and Grey’s Anatomy. I think its biggest threat, however, comes in the form of Supernatural, now at 8 over on The CW.

Fox’s midseason bench doesn’t look too strong. I’ll take a quick look at those shows:

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LA To Vegas – It’s a show about the antics of a flight crew that handles the weekend LA to Vegas route. I don’t care who’s producing the thing, this is gonna be just another forgotten Fox sitcom.

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The Resident – Another “young doctor doesn’t play by the rules” show. It’s got Emily VanCamp, so that’s a plus. It could work. It looks very “Fox”.

ABC

ABC didn’t really do anything too drastic, with only a couple of new shows and a few moves.

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Ten Days In The Valley – Kyra Sedgwick plays a workaholic TV writer whose daughter goes missing. So, the show revolves around the hunt, and the fact that she can’t trust anyone around her, yadda yadda yadda. ABC probably feels like Sedgwick was quite the “get” after her critically acclaimed run on The Closer, but I just don’t know about this show. There’s nothing special about it. Sure, there will be twists and turns, but the fact that you can already predict those twists is what’s working against the show. Airing Sunday at 10, its only scripted competition, however, will be Madam Secretary over on CBS. I don’t think Madam is gonna destroy it, but I simply think this show is going to struggle to both find an audience and also keep that audience engaged. And what would a season 2 look like? I don’t think this is a winner.

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The Good Doctor – Fresh off A&E’s Bates Motel, Freddie Highmore stars as a young surgeon with autism. It’s from the creator of House, so you kinda know what you’re gonna get there. Ya know, he’s a miracle doctor who doesn’t do shit by the book. I really like the cast, with Richard Schiff (The West Wing), Hill Harper (CSI: NY), and Antonia Thomas (Misfits). I probably won’t watch it, but it could find an audience. The trick will be whether it genuinely portrays what it would be like to be an autistic surgeon. A lot of special interest groups will probably be keeping a close eye on this one, and I think a lot of people will be talking about it. Scheduled Monday at 10, its main competition is Scorpion and The Brave. I think it’ll do fine.

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The Mayor – A young rapper decides to run for mayor in order to get attention on his mixtape. Then he wins, and has to figure out how to actually be mayor. This sounds terrible. This is the kind of thing that would’ve gone straight to DVD starring fat Anthony Anderson back in 2001. I think the network was just desperate to get into bed with Daveed Diggs because of his Hamilton pedigree. While it will have Black-ish as its lead-in, it’s slotted where Imaginary Mary and The Real O’Neals went to die. Just like Tuesday 10 PM is the Death Slot, 9:30 isn’t much better. This thing simply doesn’t have legs. I just hope it lasts long enough for the rapper and Lea Michele to become a couple.

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The Gospel of Kevin – This looks like a reboot of Highway to Heaven. Jason Ritter plays Kevin Finn, who supposedly “isn’t a good guy”, even though the trailer doesn’t elaborate on why someone would think that. Anyway, one night he discovers a meteor, which actually contains an angel, played by comedian Cristela Alonzo. She’s gonna be his spirit guide, as he travels to country to gain his powers and change the lives of others. Yeah, it’s in the Tuesday Night Death slot, so that’s certainly a strike against it. Typically, new shows in the Tuesday 10 PM slot fail for ABC. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. only survived because it was a veteran, and even it got banished to Friday. Nothing can survive at in that slot, for whatever reason, and I don’t see Kevin bucking that trend. This thing is simply too high concept, and I’m not sure America’s ready for another angel show right now. This one doesn’t have a prayer.

Let’s talk about ABC’s moves. Shark Tank moves to Sundays at 9. I don’t know about that one. I know they’re rebranding Friday nights, but now it’ll be going up against football and NCIS: LA. I think this is only temporary, as it’ll eventually find a new home on the schedule – perhaps Tuesdays at 10? One that’s kinda controversial in my mind is the Minority Block they’ve created on Tuesday night. Things kick off with the struggling Hecks of The Middle, who’re then followed up by the Asians of Fresh Off The Boat, and the Blacks of Black-ish and The Mayor. I haven’t seen something this calculated since the days of UPN. Still, I guess we should just shut up and be glad for the representation. It’s weird because ABC’s Wednesday night is their comedy crown jewel, though they’re clearly trying to take back Tuesday. It’s just a question now of how they’re branding those nights. I get that they don’t want to move Modern Family, but Black-ish benefited from the 9:30 Wednesday timeslot because, even though they were different races, the Dunphys and the Johnsons occupied the same socioeconomic class. That’s got to translate into some sort of data for ad buyers. I guess you could say Black-ish “graduated” if they feel it can survive without Modern Family protecting it, but I hate that its old timeslot was given to American Housewife, which I’m kinda surprised was renewed. On Friday, Once Upon A Time moves from Sunday, while Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. will take over the 9 PM slot once Inhumans ends its run. A lot of folks feel like this is the death knell for both shows, since a move to Friday is always seen as a death sentence. I’ve never understood that, though, because if nerds truly have no lives, then shouldn’t they be home to watch these shows? Anyway, these shows are still on the air because they perform well on DVR/internationally, so their ratings clearly aren’t the only deciding factor.

Oddly enough, ABC’s most interesting new shows are being held for midseason. Since they won’t show up until January, I’m only gonna do some quick drive-by thoughts on them:

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Alex, Inc – Zach Braff quits his successful job to start a podcast company. This is gonna look so dated when we look back on it, kinda like Selfie (remember that show?). It’s apparently going into the Sunday at 10 slot, so I guess Ten Days In The Valley will have wrapped by then. CBS will still probably have Madam Secretary, but Sunday Night Football will be over, so it’ll be interesting to see what NBC puts against it.

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The Crossing – Steve Zahn is a small town cop who gets pulled into a mystery when a bunch of refugees from the future (!) wash up on his beach. I know I said I don’t like saga shows, but I really liked this trailer, and I can’t wait to see what this show is all about.

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Deception – a cool as shit illusionist helps the FBI solve crimes. It’s SUCH a procedural, and there’s the whole will they/won’t they trope between him and the lady agent, but I don’t care. It looks so slick! I can’t wait.

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For the People – A new Shondaland show about young sexy lawyers doing young sexy lawyer shit. It’ll be right at home in TGIT, especially once Scandal ends and frees up a slot.

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Splitting Up Together – This is a movie, not a show! It’s good to see Jenna Fischer again, and I’ve loved Oliver Hudson since Rules of Engagement. It’s basically about a married couple trying to manage a “conscious uncoupling” while keeping their sanity. And there’s the slight hint that they may realize new things about each other and want to stay together. I have no idea how this is gonna go, but I’ll check it out.

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Let’s revisit that Tuesday night situation, though, shall we? I feel like Black-ish is only keeping that slot warm for Roseanne‘s 8-episode run that debuts in 2018. They wouldn’t use it to kick off the night, as Roseanne‘s blue collar humor doesn’t necessarily translate at that hour, and I hardly see them bumping Modern Family on Wednesday night. So, I could see Roseanne returning to her Tuesday 9 PM roost of yesteryear. By this point, of course, The Mayor will already have been canceled, but Roseanne pairs better with The Middle than with Black-ish. I see a lot of comedy moves coming midseason for ABC.

CBS

CBS is “America’s Most Watched Network”, so they’re not making too many moves. Let’s take a look at their new shows.

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Wisdom of the Crowd – Jeremy Piven, with a fresh set of hair plugs, stars as a software developer who creates a crowdsourcing app to help solve the murder of his daughter. Sounds a lot like Person of Interest, right? I mean, didn’t they have a machine that predicted crimes or some shit? I dunno. I never watched it. I just know it starred Jesus after he couldn’t get any work anywhere. Anyway, you should really watch this trailer because it contains stuff that is totally possible, and I’m not sure that’s such a good thing. It’s probably where society is heading, but the idea of crowdsourcing evidence to solve crimes just sounds like there are SO many things that could go wrong. As you see in the trailer, they’re gonna play the long game with the case surrounding Piven’s daughter, as that takes a backseat to the app being used to help the cops solve other crimes. CBS audiences are older and not very tech savvy. They don’t like when their shows get too “techy”. Sure, Person of Interest lasted 5 seasons, but take a look at Pure Genius from just this season. It was about a young tech billionaire who was gonna use cutting edge technology to cure all the world’s diseases. It was canceled after its initial 13 episode order. I know Piven can be polarizing, so I just don’t know about this one. Luckily, it’s scheduled Sunday at 8, with no scripted competition other than The Simpsons, so it should have room to breathe.

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9JKL – HATE the title. It sounds like text speak or some shit. Instead, it’s about 3 apartments. Recently divorced actor Mark Feuerstein moves into apartment 9K, which happens to be between his parents, Elliot Gould and Linda Lavin, in 9J and his brother and his family in 9L. So, it’s a multigenerational, multi camera sitcom, starring a bunch of folks who tend to star in shows that are canceled. Again, I think the title hurts it, but it’s the kind of show that CBS could take or leave. The Big Bang lead-in should definitely help it, but the true test will be when Bang moves back to Thursday. I don’t think it’ll be a breakout hit, as it’s not exactly reinventing the wheel, but it might end up on the bubble and eke out a second season if CBS doesn’t have a deep bench next pilot season.

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Me, Myself, and I – Oh, boy. Where to start with this? OK, we follow the main character at 3 different points in his life: age 14, when he meets the love of his life, age 40, when he’s newly divorced and trying to put his life back together, and age 65 when he’s reunited with the love from age 14. This show is doing A LOT! The casting is what makes it, though. The kid is a newcomer, but I think audiences will take to him like they did Sean Giambrone as Adam Goldberg. The 40 year old is a hapless loser, played capably by SNL‘s Bobby Moynihan. Meanwhile, the 65 year old is played by Night Court great John Larroquette. Oh, and Jaleel White must’ve spent all his Urkel money, ’cause he plays the 40 year old’s best friend. For me, the casting is what sells this show. I really want it to succeed ’cause I like everyone involved. It’s just going to be tricky to navigate 3 different time periods, and is there some sort of master 7-season plan where everything converges? I’m really pulling for this one, but its quirkiness asks a lot of its audience – especially since it’s going to dance around CBS’s Monday schedule for the first few months.

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SEAL Team – More soldier shit, and this time the team is led by the sidekick from Bones, while taking assignments from Don Draper’s “third” wife. It’s the familiar trope of “They do such terrible shit out there that it’s hard for them to adjust to civilian life when they’re home.” Out of the three soldier shit series debuting this season, however, I think this one has the best chance of renewal based on the fact that it appeals to the NCIS/CSI sensibilities of CBS’s built-in audience. Fun fact: the lead role was originally going to Jesus himself, Jim Caviezel, but was recast when Caviezel left the project over creative differences. He might’ve brought the Person of Interest audience with him, but seeing as how Bones ran for 12 years (and don’t forget Angel), Boreanaz probably has a deeper fanbase.

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Young Sheldon – This is such an interesting experiment: a single camera prequel to an aging multi camera sitcom. I know CBS wants to keep The Big Bang Theory machine chugging along, especially considering it’ll most likely be done in two years. I just always felt like a Sheldon was a Less Is More kind of character. I don’t need to know about his childhood because I get enough of a glimpse from his anecdotes. I feel like the audience that enjoys him actually enjoys Jim Parsons’s portrayal of him, rather than the character himself. On his own, Sheldon is kinda unlikeable, due to his lack of social skills and decorum. Since he’s on the spectrum, however, that’s all forgiven. Now, I think Iain Armitage does a pretty capable job of being a young Sheldon, but he’s also very off-putting to the viewer. I’m not sure anyone is going to root for him. Instead, you kinda feel sorry for the people in his orbit: his family, his teachers, etc. They simply live in a different world than he does. I will say that Zoe Perry does an amazing job portraying a younger version of Sheldon’s mom, played by her real-life mom, Laurie Metcalf. One of the biggest complaints about The Big Bang Theory is that its humor kinda appeals to the lowest common denominator. It might be a show about smart people, but it’s not necessarily a smart show. That said, the single camera format tends to be used for smart shows, i.e. Modern Family, Arrested Development, etc. Will the traditional TBBT audience migrate over to this new show and format? I’ll be very interested to see how this does.

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S.W.A.T. – Ah, the show based on the movie based on the show. I wasn’t sure about this at first. I honestly didn’t see Shemar Moore as a leading man. I mean, he couldn’t even carry Soul Train back in the day, so how could he headline his own series? Anyway, the captain from Stargate Universe shoots a kid, and gets fired (can you believe that justice?!), so his S.W.A.T. unit is handed over to Shemar Moore. Now Moore’s forced to police the inner city neighborhood in which he grew up. There’s gonna be a lot of Black Lives Matter vs Blue Lives Matter stuff going on here. What happens where you’re both? The show is executive produced by Justin Lin (Star Trek Beyond, Fast & Furious 6), but something about this feels like a late 90s NBC show instead of a 2017 CBS series. The same way we may not be patriotic enough for soldier shit shows right now, I’m not sure this is the show that’s gonna redeem cops in a lot of folks’ eyes. It kinda fits CBS’s demographic, but they don’t do so well with the TV shows based on movies (Training Day, Rush Hour). It’s going against How To Get Away With Murder, which is the lowest rated of the Shondaland dramas, but it’s also going against NBC’s Law & Order Menendez spinoff. Even with limited competition, I don’t think this one gets a second season.

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And while this isn’t going on the main network, it’s still a CBS show. Star Trek: Discovery. All I can say is “NO!” “NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!” I don’t know what I wanted, but this wasn’t it. I know some folks are so desperate for new Trek, but I want it to make sense, and I want it to be good. I knew a prequel was the wrong move because technology has come so far, so you can’t help but make it look better than The Original Series, though it should look less advanced due to when it’s set. A lot of people are gonna “cape” for it because it has a strong, Black woman as the protagonist, but those people can’t see the forest for the trees. Everything about this looks wrong to me. It’s funny that so many of us were wondering how we were gonna pirate this show, but after seeing this, I have no interest. It looks like a well-made fan film. Pass.

Looking at CBS’s moves, they really played it safe. On Sunday, NCIS: Los Angeles and Madam Secretary both move back an hour, filling the slot left by Elementary (coming back midseason), and making room for Wisdom of the Crowd. At this point, CBS is the only network with scripted drama on Sunday night, so I think they’ll do fine. Monday is in constant flux, depending on whether or not its football season. When the season starts, The Big Bang Theory will kick off the night, before it eventually moves back to Thursday, ceding its timeslot to Kevin Can Wait (which will start the season at 9 PM prior to the move). Once football ends, Superior Donuts will return to take the 9:30 slot occupied by new comedy Me, Myself, and I (which will shift to 9 PM). Whew! See, that’s CBS’s big problem: they move their “iffy” shows around so much that they can’t find an audience. 2 Broke Girls was all over the schedule this season before it got the chop. Even if folks don’t watch TV live anymore, these moves make them forget a show even comes on anymore. On Wednesday, Criminal Minds shifts to 10 to make room for David Boreanaz’s Seal Team. Thursday and Friday remain pretty much the same. Like I said, other than the Monday kerfuffle, CBS played it pretty safe while introducing more new shows that the other networks.

The CW

Finally, we come to The CW where moves abound. First, however, let’s look at the new shows.

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Valor – More soldier shit, only this time it’s with overacting pretty people and a dash of PTSD. It falls into the category of something I’d watch as a movie, but I just don’t like getting on board “saga” shows these days because they have so many layers, and run the risk of being canceled before answering all, or any, of their questions. If they’re smart, this is a one season storyline, and then they’ll have to reinvent the show for season 2. That said, from what I see, I don’t think they need to be rushing to figure out a second season quite yet. Airing Monday at 9, it’ll probably get trounced by The Gifted over on Fox, as they both seem to be male-skewing shows, and I see Fox winning this round. I also don’t feel like Supergirl is the proper lead-in series, but they seem committed to keeping her kicking off Monday nights.

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Dynasty – I’m too young to have watched the original, but this reboot is The CW’s bread and butter. I don’t know if the characters or plot points are the same, but it’s rich, pretty White people doing trifling shit to each other. And it’s by the producers of The O.C. and Gossip Girl? Yeah, they’ll get a good 4-5 seasons out of this. This isn’t the first franchise The CW has resurrected, as they also did it with 90210 and Melrose Place. The latter didn’t go so well for them, but the former was a reliable staple of their schedule for 5 seasons. I can definitely see the same here.

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Black Lightning – It looks like your standard Berlantiverse show, even if it takes place in its own universe. The question is whether or not “The Community” is going to support it. People always plead for diversity, but then they don’t show up when it’s time. If you put out a Black Lightning comic right now, it would not sell. It just wouldn’t. So, will White audiences want to watch a show about a Black inner city vigilante trying to clean up the streets – especially when there’s no lure of a crossover with the shows they already love? It’s being held for midseason, so maybe it’ll take over Legends of Tomorrow‘s timeslot once it airs its unusual number of episodes (seriously, they have, like 16-episode seasons over there for whatever reason). Here’s the kicker, though: according to the network, the show won’t take place in the established Arrowverse, mainly due to logistics. It will be filmed in Atlanta, while the other shows film in Vancouver. As such, they’re also not planning a 5-way crossover between the shows. That last part makes me kinda glad, as I didn’t really think they tuck the landing with this season’s 4-way “Invasion” crossover. People might come out for this, but they might not. I really don’t know which way the wind blows with this one.

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Life Sentence – This is a movie, not a TV series. A young girl who thought she was dying finds out she’s cured and now has to learn how to live her life. I’d like it to survive, as it’s co-executive-produced by Bill Lawrence of Scrubs fame, but this has as much staying power as this season’s No Tomorrow. Oh, you never even heard of No Tomorrow? It was about a young woman who thinks the world is going to end, so she has to learn to live life to its fullest in the time that she has left. Yeah, kind of the reverse of this. It got canceled after its initial 13 episodes. Anyway, it’s cute and quirky, but I figure there’s enough there for about 90 minutes – not a full season. Anyway, it’s pretty clear why they’re holding this lil midseason.

Now, let’s talk about the moves because they are drastic. Riverdale moves from Thursday to Wednesday at 8, pitting it against Empire, The Blacklist, Survivor, and The Goldbergs. The show has a following, though, so I really don’t think this move will hurt it too much. If anything, it’ll give White folks a sudsy alternative to Empire at the same time. On Thursday, Supernatural moves to 8, while Arrow, ceding its timeslot to Riverdale, now occupies Thursday at 9 – pitting it against This Is Us, The Orville, and the final season of Scandal. Poor fucking Arrow. That is not an enviable place to be, but DVR might help it. If it gets absolutely killed, six seasons was a good run. I think it’ll make it to seven, but this move does it absolutely no favors. On Friday, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend moves to 8, while Jane the Virgin moves from Monday at 9 to Friday at 9. Online buzz is what keeps Crazy on the air, so maybe they’re hoping that’ll be the case for Jane? I know Jane has a fanbase, and Supergirl wasn’t the most logical lead-in for it, but Friday is always such an uncomfortable situation.

Anyway, after all of this, I think ABC has the best new offerings, though they’re holding most of them til midseason. I feel like NBC has the most stable schedule, and they’re taking the fewest risks, but CBS has more new Fall shows that I’m genuinely curious about. So that’s why CBS won the upfronts and had the West Week Ever.

#A Cappella #Boybands #DC #DVDs #Indie #Marvel #Movies #Music #Politics #Pop #Power Rangers #Race #Television #Video Games #West Week Ever

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ourdallasvideofestthings · 8 years ago

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I’m back from SXSW where I saw so many people, quite a few films, and several panels. Did I mention a LOT of people? I started my time there with a difficult decision—Song by Song, the new film by Terrence Malick or a four-hour documentary about the Grateful Dead called, Long Strange Trip. I knew so many people would be going to Song by Song, as it was the Austin/SXSW thing to do, but I also knew there would be a long line to get in and that it is opening at the Angelika soon. When I heard that the wait was 2 hours, I was not interested at all, so I trucked on down to the Dead show and I’m really glad I did. I walked in and saw John Pierson, husband of Janet Pierson, who programs SXSW. John has written a book on indie films in “Spike Mike Slackers and Dykes” and did a show on the IFC channel called Split Screen. In one episode of that show, sometime in the 90’s, he came to the Video Fest. He said that episode is on the new Film Struck website and available on iTunes, in season 3. I also ran into Paul Stekler, who runs the RTF department at UT Austin, as well as Louis Black, a SXSW founder. Indeed, I felt like we were old codgers in a young land, but the real reason I was happy to see the documentary was that the filmmakers had access to the original stem of all the music, meaning they could re-mix it for 7.1 Dolby sound. Since this would mostly be shown on Amazon, who purchased it, this will be one of the few times to hear this great mix in a theatre. Oh, and the film was good; it lasted four hours, just about as long as a Dead show. I saw many other good films and TV shows. I went to a few panels and two stood out. One was on directing your editors, meaning that the focus was on the relationship between editors and directors, which is not often discussed. The material was really useful and some of the best remarks came from Susan Adair who has edited Rick Linklater's films for many years. Her new film as a director, The Secret Life of Lance Letscher, is coming to the Dallas International Film Fest in a few weeks. It played at SXSW, but I thought I’d wait to see it in Dallas. I’m back from SXSW where I saw so many people, quite a few films, and several panels. Did I mention a LOT of people? I started my time there with a difficult decision—Song by Song, the new film by Terrence Malick or a four-hour documentary about the Grateful Dead called, Long Strange Trip. I knew so many people would be going to Song by Song, as it was the Austin/SXSW thing to do, but I also knew there would be a long line to get in and that it is opening at the Angelika soon. When I heard that the wait was 2 hours, I was not interested at all, so I trucked on down to the Dead show and I’m really glad I did. I walked in and saw John Pierson, husband of Janet Pierson, who programs SXSW. John has written a book on indie films in Spike Mike Slackers and Dykes and did a show on the IFC channel called Split Screen. In one episode of that show, sometime in the 90’s, he came to the Video Fest. He said that episode is on the new Film Struck website and available on iTunes, in season 3. I also ran into Paul Stekler, who runs the RTF department at UT Austin, as well as Louis Black, a SXSW founder. Indeed, I felt like we were old codgers in a young land, but the real reason I was happy to see the documentary was that the filmmakers had access to the original stem of all the music, meaning they could re-mix it for 7.1 Dolby sound. Since this would mostly be shown on Amazon, who purchased it, this will be one of the few times to hear this great mix in a theatre. Oh, and the film was good; it lasted four hours, just about as long as a Dead show. I saw many other good films and TV shows. I went to a few panels and two stood out. One was on directing your editors, meaning that the focus was on the relationship between editors and directors, which is not often discussed. The material was really useful and some of the best remarks came from Susan Adair who has edited Rick Linklater's films for many years. Her new film as a director, The Secret Life of Lance Letscher, is coming to the Dallas International Film Fest in a few weeks. It played at SXSW, but I thought I’d wait to see it in Dallas. As we get older, we too often are faced with the tragedy of losing people important to both our personal and professional lives. This weekend we lost Andy Anderson. Andy was a great filmmaker, teacher and screenwriter. I met Andy soon after I arrived in Dallas, when he was putting together Positive ID, which is a great film. I also knew that he was running the film program at UT Arlington and had heard good things about his teaching and the program. I joined the program and worked very closely with Andy. He was a tough and inspiring teacher. Most people that came through our program would say that his screenwriting class changed their lives, and indeed, his teaching did change many lives. To get an idea of what he thought of teaching, you might want to check out Learning Curve, his next feature. These just scratch the surface of his work. Andy was an artist who usually made and wrote narrative films, but he could also fix cars, cameras and pretty much anything else. He was also the chair of the Art and Art History department at UTA and did so many things to help me, some of which I know about and then there are others that I just suspect. At this moment I don’t know when or where the memorial service is, but check Facebook. We will post info there. And for a taste of Andy’s films, here is a short film I made about him for Deep in the Arts On KERA TV. Andy will be missed but his spirit and passion live on in hundreds of students. So, what is happening in town? Next week I will have more info on DIFF. The Texas Theater is showing Kedi, the film about Turkish cats. It is also playing at the Magnolia (where they are playing It Takes a Thief as their Big Movie on Tuesday.) Also, at The Texas they are bringing in Whit Stillman for a screening of Life and Friendship, which should be great The Alamo in the Cedars is showing Mad Max, Kill Bill and Jackie Brown— lots of action. The are also showing A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, Wednesday at 8—this is really a great film.

The Alamo in Richardson is showing Run Lola Run on Wednesday, which is the ultimate studio, chase film, but so much fun to watch. Also showing are Kill Bill 1 and 2, Blade Runner, and the magnificent Mildred Pierce. Have a great week.

Bart Weiss

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10oclockdot · 8 years ago

Photo

Intermission

(a free response to my favorite tumblr piece in ages: Aphelis's Seven Samurai Interrupted, an exploration of the ontology of the intermission)

2001. "I'm not so sure what he'd think about it," says the astronaut. And then, a vertiginous surprise, like something holding us up just fell away: White noise, The 2.35:1 frame irised down to a peephole, Telephoto, POV, panning: through HAL's eyes as he reads their lips. The moment of consciousness. But then, a more vertiginous surprise: A deeper, more silent void than even outer space: A black screen, outside the narrative. Fade in:

The mind races--- wait, no, wait-- NO! A film floating glacially, reel after reel, suddenly bursting with intrigue only to be shut off, suspended, abandoned, adrift, uncertain... But in the audience, a hundred virtual guess-movies still play.

Early 1990's. When I was a kid, my mom sometimes rented The Great Race or It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World for me and my sister. Two very silly films that came on two VHS's each. I remember there being overtures, exit music, intermissions. I remember pressing fast-forward. In the VHS era, we made our own intermissions.

(The Great Race and It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World were long films. Now I wonder whether my mom chose them to give herself a long intermission from me.)

1996. The first tape of The Right Stuff ended with Glenn saying, "I plan on being the first man to ride the rocket." The second tape began with a montage of test rocket failures. Convenient, since that's the only part I really wanted to watch. Had there been an intermission there, cut for the tape? Wikipedia tells me The Right Stuff had an intermission. I check my blu-ray, but I can't find one. Where had it been? Where has it gone? Was this the erasure of an absence or of a presence?

Wiki tells me that Fantasia had an intermission, too. I don't remember it. I do remember, however, that my parents always fast-forwarded through the dinosaur part and the Bacchus part the rare once or twice we watched it. Drinking was bad, those were false gods, evolution was a lie. Like I said, we made our own intermissions.

2004. In college, I watched Persona for the first time on possibly the worst VHS tape ever made. A 16mm transfer that might as well have been made by pointing a camcorder at the screen, with white on white subtitles. Partway in, the action abruptly stopped and a card appeared on screen reading, “Please wait a moment while we change reels.” I remember it taking about a minute.

2007. In grad school, I TA'd for an introductory film history class. The Birth of a Nation was, of course, pure suffering for all the students in that 150-person room. (Seriously, everybody. If you must teach Griffith in Intro to Film, figure out the learning goal. Continuity editing? The Lonedale Operator. Poetry? The Country Doctor and maybe The Musketeers of Pig Alley. Film as fine art? Intolerance. Lillian Gish's acting? Broken Blossoms. If you want to talk about the racism, show scenes, but don't waste the 3 hours.)

Anyway. I've heard laughs during Keaton and shrieks during Un Chien Andalou and even a hushed gasp at the end of Citizen Kane. But I've never heard as pained or as abject a moan as the one that issued from every mouth in that room when the title card told them:

2009. A road trip to the Wexner Center in Columbus, Ohio, to see Jennifer Reeves's When It Was Blue play on film, from two projectors hitting the same screen. A hallucinatory Brakhagian ocular explosion for over an hour, except for a few minutes in the middle when both projectors were turned off. Black screen, dark theater. Big, lush music played. An intermission? No one left their seats. A pause to change reels? But the experience continued as the music played, and I kept my eyes trained ahead. What was it, then? It was my favorite part.

2012. A last-minute road trip up to Ann Arbor, Michigan to see one of the rehearsal performances of Philip Glass's opera Einstein on the Beach. It's an over-five-hour affair: 4 acts plus 5 "knee plays" designed as bookends and links between the acts. But the Knee Plays are not intermissions. Instead, the audience is invited to create their own intermission wherever they need it. I never left my seat. Neither did any of the other music nerds I went with.

2015. Chicago, for the 70mm Hateful Eight roadshow. The theater was packed with drunk, agitated people. The overture didn't shut them up. The intermission didn't calm them down. I was willing to believe that the film was building to something; but the second half proved me wrong. Over three hours of meaningless cruelty, pointless bloviation, gratuitous bloodshed. Like the film stock itself, was the intermission simply a compensatory gesture? The act of a filmmaker trying to make a bad project seem important? My friends and I talked about it for hours. We couldn't save it.

(Then again, maybe The Hateful Eight just came out a year too early. After the 2016 election, a meditation on hate and division, especially a grotesque, unredeeming one, feels timely.)

My parents voted for Trump. They'd always been Evangelical Christians (Cruz was their candidate) and they raised me as one. I don't know whether I resent their vote more for its idiocy, its bigotry, or for its absolute nullification of their values. I left the church for good around 2010. My mom still believes I'll come back.

My dad and I built model rockets together when I was a kid, but we gave it up when I went to college. We said goodbye to the hobby and figured it was all over. But it turns out it was just a break; a couple years ago we got back into it. I think that return gives my mom hope that one day I'll "find my way back" to the church. The Evangelical allegiance to Trump convinces me again that there's nothing to come back to.

2000. dc Talk, the biggest Christian band of the 90s, announced their indefinite hiatus with a greatest hits album called "Intermission." As the years went by, the intermission stretching ever longer, I sometimes pondered whether that name was a put-on. The Eagles in reverse: They didn't take a vacation, they broke up. Now I learn that dc Talk is getting back together in 2017 to play a single Caribbean cruise. Looks like there was nothing to come back to.

2007. I watched the 1965 film The Bedford Incident, which ends with the accidental launch of a nuclear missile, then white noise.

I was so furious at this ending that for years I fantasized about teaching a screenwriting class in which I would assign the students to replace "The End" with "Intermission" and write treatments for the "second half" of the movie. Where intermissions do not exist, it becomes necessary to invent them.

Because what is an intermission? It's a signpost on a journey. You're halfway there. It's a reminder of artifice: that the story was designed. Fear not, the artist is in control, and the artist will lead you back out. It's terror (because we do not yet know) but also hope (because someone does).

Mittere: to let go. Inter: between. Intermission: to let go of something, but only for a time; that is, "between" holding it and picking it back up again.

The intermission is eschatological. It proclaims, this is NOT the end. This is just a break. For two millennia, Christianity has been in intermission, awaiting the Second Coming. The second act. The intermission proclaims that an absence is really a presence. That a designer left a gap here for a purpose. That it's not just meaningless silence. "I am going there to prepare a place for you."

Where intermissions do not exist, it becomes necessary to invent them.

#intermission

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mishathevideoboy · 6 years ago

Text

Final Portfolio

Collective project notes

Final Project

youtube

Lighting Project

youtube

Storyboard for the final project

Final Project script

Misha: The pictures of them where all over the walls. Quite a lot of different women, all of them different colors and sizes. But not weight, it doesn’t speak on him necessarily but it's just what society likes.

Arella: I can see why you love the female body.

Misha: I adore it! I love women. Not in the perverted sense, ok maybe a little but also in a respectful sense. They’re sweet, their eyes are warm their hearts are big… mostly.

Arella: Is that all they are to you?

Misha: No they are more, you’re more too. My mother embodied self sacrifice she had casual partners when I was young but I never saw them, I never knew they existed until I grew up.

Arella: Your father abided by that?

Misha: No, he likes women as much as me, maybe in different ways too. I was born in the 90’s duh. And it was strange hearing about what my Dad says my mother and his relationship was. Why would you have partners like such in the 90’s?

Arella: Seems bizarre, what’d she say?

Misha: She was in love from what it seems. My mother was a romantic but she wasn’t really in long term relationships except for one guy long before I was born. She was “stoic” whether that was good or not, who knows.

Arella: My mother had partners, but I never got to see her. Busy etc. You know the story.

Misha: Yeah that’s even worse, at least my parents where here for me.

Arella: Do you ever want them to sit down and create a truth?

Misha: Like a lie?

Arella: No, more like a cohesive narrative.

Misha: That’d be unimportant. I think part of the story is that they’re own stories are so tied to their side and their belief. They both think they’re right and that's all that matters to them. Pass the flour?

Arella: Here, I don’t know maybe that's wrong.

Storyboard for 12-year-old message project

Idle No More project notes

Posts

This idea brought up " In Defense of the Poor" of an imperfect media seeking to transcend platform, medium and societal standings often reminds me of the trend that was once Vine. These series of images found in Vine are using mimesis and relatability as a means of spreading and reaching more and more audiences. The structure of the videos themselves follows this visually short lifespan followed by a long subconscious time of retention so that you may recommend this low quality super compressed media thus proliferating it further.

Educational:

The educational video serves in enlightening the audience or teaching them of something previously unknown or unheard of. Look to most documentaries for this style of video.

Entertainment:

Entertainment video, this kind of video can be seen with irreverent youtube comedy videos like memes or comedic videos with no sort of external critique. Another form of entertainment video is Hollywood movies such as the superhero craze happening right now.

Artistic:

Artistic videos can be seen as film and cinema that pushes artistic boundaries in composure and storytelling, this can also be seen in short videos we watched for the class that take an unusual approach to storytelling

Commercial:

Commercial videos can be seen in things like advertisements and videos that try to push upon or sell you a product.

Not all of the aforementioned sections are mutually exclusive and many of them can be used to describe one video.

An external category of video that doesn't fit into TeeVee, Film, or Art is personal video storytelling. This kind of video can be found on Snapchat and Instagram, these types of videos do not fit into any of the other categories due to their temporal existence and pointlessness to anything greater in the world.

Almost immediately the Violent footage of the Civil Rights movement drew me in. Not many documentaries truly confront the violence and horrendousness of it. This collection also had brilliant dialogue pacing and great sound design to accompany the images and interviews to almost make it feel as though you were occupying the space. The components used where archival footage, news footage, interviews etc. But the practice of juxtaposing the interviewers frame with the scenes or horrible violence made it more powerful as if the history of this trauma was pushing these people forward to discuss these times and what it meant for America and Black Americans, as well as what it could mean for them now and in the future.

Not many questions persist but it did ignite my desire to see more civil rights documentaries recently. However looking back I can see the strategies used in this series have influenced a lot of documentary making today. The somewhat lively and in your face method serves to attract a lot of attention of viewers especially one as myself who is now bombarded with so many different screens trying for my attention.

1. The sitcom parody was by far my favorite, I didn't take much away from all of them but this one spoke to me because I grew up in an Afro Carribean household and my mother would make these jokes about my first girlfriend because she was white. It was more just nostalgia to these conversations and less the commentary.

2. Coco Fusco took this interesting surreal approach to social issues and racism, whereas Eyes On the Prize (EOtP) really approached these subjects with sincerity and judgment. Although the message from EOtP was conveyed through strange means and strange editing it wasn't as "odd" as Coco's

3. No questions beyond wanting to see if the artists made any interviews on the subject matter they commented on.

I feel like life is centered around being something else instead of being happy or centered around this tail chase of work and leisure only to continue the pursuit in vain. When I think about myself and my narrative I like to highlight the enjoyment of my life with friends and my personal successes with art that are recognized by others. I feel the key to happiness in my life is to not chase pleasure through the masochism of doing work for pay but rather find happiness through working on what I love.

Reflecting on this previous project is difficult. The reason its so hard falls onto one aspect. That aspect being that I did as much as I wanted to do to help but to a certain point I also didn’t do more. A project relies on two people functioning to their best ability, and that was true for this project but only at times.This project was not being cared for properly and attended to properly. My partner and I had collected the best footage we could find and worked to the best of our ability in creating a joint format that would answer our questions. What went wrong came down to disagreements about execution. My partner insisted on using their dorm room computer which was not appropriate due to incessant technical difficulties with said computer. My partner also had a lack of focus when it came to putting pen to paper so to speak, and although I spent most time editing I found my patience with them worn thin and the lack of progress being made on the project incredibly frustrating. Over the course of 4 editing sessions I started to slowly decrease my effort in the hope that my partner would pick up the slack of the project. The issue is that he did not pick up slack nor do any work they promised to do. This forced me last minute to dump all my effort into the project. Ultimately I should’ve never decreased my effort and I shouldn’t have been so subtle in my approach of telling my partner to pick it up. Editing is incredibly easy for me and so is filming, so the fact of this project being so subpar falls on me having not put 100% effort in and just completing the whole thing myself.

1. The collective video had not inspired me at this point but I spent a lot of time refining and reflecting on what others were saying to help me create a narrative. I started thinking the video would function better as a shorter piece without dialogue and more focus on imagery and words and less on actual voices. I felt this would give it an aspect of timelessness.

2. My Tumblr posts on final project

post 1

post 2

post 3

Persona Reflection

Saviour by George Ezra reflection

I had worked with Berit and her group on her lighting sketch after being under the impression that my own personal project would not be accepted. Due to this, I joined the project late and I couldn't contribute to the field of ideas. I instead offered my lighting skills and I also made it a point to get gear for the group as well schedule and find a location for my group to shoot. I took a very "employee" and not a creative approach to this project.

Persona Reflection

Saviour by George Ezra reflection

10.

1. I took on the role of working on the introduction piece of the Smile project. The way we found our positions was left mostly up to the class but when we found our smaller groups people started to take smaller leadership positions within said groups. The position I feel I took was leading the people working on the beginning section of the project.

2. Our responsibility was to create an opening that set the stage for the rest of the video without distracting from the subject matter or being to forward with subject matter that no one else would want to see the video. I feel I fulfilled my responsibilities quite well leading the group and in keeping our group focused and clear, I also made sure to keep open lines of communication within each subgroup so that we had consistency between all our messages and segments.

3. Our group decisions relied on a vote so that we could all have a say and unanimously agree on the objectives we wanted to pursue. The decisions I participated in where the discussion of Font choices and text choices. I did not participate in the decisions of the main theme of the video and its content, I felt I would do a better job focusing the beginning of the video around a theme instead of injecting themes and ideas into an already crowded process.

4. I don't see my voice and vision existing in this project. I am not bothered by this but taking a colder more calculated approach to creating this project, in this instance, made sense.

5. I was completely seen and heard when we split into smaller groups and I started working on the beginning section of the Smile project. I wasn't seen or heard in many other sections aside from when the project started rolling into its editing phase, I wasn't bothered by this because I feel I couldn't have contributed more.

6. I didn't learn any new skills in this project, I did, however, share my skills in communicating and working collaboratively on creative projects.

7. I do not feel this collaboration was equal among us all, quite a few of us put in more work than others and this dissuaded me from putting even more effort in, that way others could pick up that slack and be forced to create parts of the project as well. My part in this was strong but it diminished upon seeing many peoples laziness and lack of care in making said project happen. I think we need a more looming aspect of attention from the professor so that the lazier students can be forced to contribute and participate instead of sitting and eating or playing on their phones for most of the class.

8. Nothing I'd really like to share but I do think the concept of the project was interesting.

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