Where's America Popular?

Interesting, scholarly, but eminently readable piece by literary "anti-theorist" Franco Moretti that methodically details in which nations American films are popular, and what kind of films are popular there. For example: Jamaicans seem to love American action films; they're Jamaica's favorite movie genre. At the other end, Austrians could care less.

Oohs and Ahhs

Just how far can special effects go, merely as an end to itself? There appears to be a very fine line between something that can be awe-inspiring, eliciting oohs and ahhs from the sugar-drunk masses, and mere ludicrousness (a racing bike whipping around a palm tree in Torque). One can lament the the dearth of the human element in movies, but spectacle is probably cinema's oldest tradition, dating back to its origins in exhibitions in carnival tents, spectators ducking and scurrying as the Lumières' train pulled into the station at La Ciotat, the magic tricks of the illusionist Méliès. One can rail against the carnival ride aspect of a lot of modern movies, but that would be as fruitful and wise as charging Hollywood with putting a dollar before art, which is the same as complaining about the weather.

TV Archeology

An incredible piece of television archeology. Read about the star studded extravaganza the Ford Motor Company sponsored on CBS in 1957, The Edsel Show! Then marvel at the perseverence and success of one man's search for the program's original video tape. Then feast your eyes and ears on a Quicktime snippet of the show's opening. The sound quality of the broadband version is quite incredible!

Vampire Bubble Gum

For only a penny Vampire Bubble Gum can be yours. Maybe these monster candy cigarette packages can be yours for the same price. A lot of fun stuff at Tick Tock Toys.

Amon Duul 1968

Images of Amon Duul live in 1968. Pictures of other Krautrock luminaries too.

The Brown Bunny

An update on Vincent Gallo's The Brown Bunny. Apparently it's been recut and it's won a critic's prize at the Vienna Film Festival. Here's Chris Fujiwara's take.

Forbidden Periodicals

I remember these kinds of forbidden periodicals spied from the corner of my eye at squeaky magazine racks--at the bottom, next to the detective magazines more than thirty years ago. More than likely it was an Eerie Publication, which specialized in horror comics (in magazine format, in order to beat the Comics Code) with especially gruesome covers. Sometimes, the art directors at Eerie got a little lazy. See (1) See (2)... Sometimes they added way too many monsters.

Sometimes Jawdropping

A great and sometimes jawdropping collection of cool but sleazy pulp cover art of the fifties and sixties from Hip Pocket Sleaze, including this oddly prescient cover of a cheap sixties paperback.

Dr. Wertham Presumes

Dr. Wertham Presumes. A selection of the "worst" in comic books up until Frederic Wertham wrote his silly book. Then again, if it wasn't for the un-Jung Wertham, we would never have known the lowdown on Batman and Robin.

Keep Hope Alive

Thanks a lot, Bob. Unlike today's pampered overcompensated stars, who feel they're above shilling product unless they're whoring themselves in Japan, in earlier and simpler times, big time celebrities like Bob Hope had no compunction with hawking razor blades, cigarettes, and chocolate. He also had no compunction about doing an anti-gay bashing PSA in 1988.

Pee Movie List

"The Pee Movie List is intended to be the world's most comprehensive and thorough guide to urination in the cinema." It's a form of scholarship, at least.

Next Stop: Nowhere!

Next Stop Nowhere was the the title of the infamous Quincy Punk Rock Episode. It aired in December of '82, but everyone spoke of punk rock as some sort of new fad. Dig the prefab nihilism of Mayhem and their stirring balls out "Get Up (I Want to See You Choke)". Note the embarassment and sly ridicule of actual fans being employed as extras to lend some local color.

Ingmar!!

A photo gallery featuring the work of Swedish director Ingmar Bergman. Also, an interesting article from Bright Lights Film Journal on how Bergman has undeservedly fallen in favor with critics and scholars.

More Werewolf, More Vampire Woman

Here's an addendum to the latest movie poster essay on The Werewolf vs. Vampire Woman. I rented out a ratty looking VHS copy that, based on the condition of the cassette and the cover art, must have been at least 15 years old. The version was called Blood Moon, though, and the copy, considering its age, was in pretty good condition, probably because no one's watched it in those 15 years. Which is a shame, because while by conventional criteria, it's not a good movie at all (the usual suspects: Naschy's casual acting style, where he gives El Santo a run for his money for expressiveness and emotional shading; the murky day for night photography, the bane of the zoom; the old saw narrative; half-there filmmaking). But it's not bad either. I would even venture to say that there are moments in La Noche de Walpurgis that approach pure cinema poetry, in the sense that filmic poetry is an instant in a movie that's more unwieldy than any string of words can explain, obfuscate, conceal, or replicate. There was a complication of dumb emotion and clinical eyeballing, a frisson and derision that I experienced watching two vampire women play ring-around-the-rosies in slow motion (in a dream sequence no less). It was an odd moment within the context of the film; but those 15 or so seconds of cinema made the rest of the 90 minute movie seem worthwhile.

It's About Time

Another silly sitcom from the 'sixties's, It's About Time dealt with astronauts breaking the time barrier and landing on prehistoric earth. Despite its fast and loose interpretations of Einsteinian physics, it played for only season on CBS in '66-'67, and never made it on syndication as far as I know. I seem to remember it vaguely, especially it's theme song.

New Poster Essay

It's about time...it's about space...about strange people in the strangest place... actually it's about the new poster and essay which you can find here. Took me a bit longer than I expected, but that's what happens when you subject yourself to self-imposed deadlines.

Unused DVD Commentaries

Unused DVD commentaries from McSweeney's: Ann Coulter and Dinesh D'Souza on Aliens

COULTER: It's not Hicks's fault. It's Gorman's. Hicks has a shotgun. And I have to say, my heart sort of pitter-patters when he cocks it. I just like the sound. Oh, my. Here the Corporation Marines have stumbled across a wall-implanted nest of dead and near-dead colonists. My question about this sequence, though, is this: If a woman is pregnant with an alien, does she have the right to an abortion? D'SOUZA: That's a tricky one. COULTER: Because we see here that some of the colonists have, in fact, been impregnated by aliens. D'SOUZA: I'm going to make an uncharacteristic admission for both of us: this is a tough, complicated issue. On the one hand you have these unborn aliens, and their lives are sacred. But really, these humans are in no way equipped to take care of them adequately once they're born. COULTER: So they should go ahead and give birth to the alien, but destroy it immediately afterwards? D'SOUZA: I think so, yes.

Also, Howard Zinn and Noam Chomsky on The Fellowship of the Ring.

The Bunny's Brown

Is Vincent Gallo's The Brown Bunny as bad as everyone's making it out to be? Its Cannes Festival premiere welcomed by catcalls, boos, and a litany of the most scathing and virulent pans, many critcs (stately, plump Roger Ebert among them) considered it the worst feature in the entire history of the Cannes International Film Festival. After the movie's less than frosty reception, Gallo apologized for the film and vowed never to make another. The next day, Gallo fervently defended his film. "I'm still very moved by it," he said.

There are other defenders of The Brown Bunny, but one wonders if it will even see a small and narrow theatrical release, considering that the climax of the film consists of a graphic ten minute fellatio sequence starring, of course, Gallo, and his co-star Chloe Sevigny. The first film maudit of 2003.

Call me perverse, but I would really like to see this (and not just for the blow-job either). We need more outlandish ideas, Russian roulette with a movie camera --not being afraid to fall flat on your face, not falling victim to the fear of failure, not giving a shit. Vincent Gallo, a lot of people consider you a prick, and you may well be, but you decided to make the movie you really wanted to make and pissed off a lot of people in the process. For that I salute you. I think I'll be watching Buffalo '66 tonight.

Elephant Wins!

Some quick news about the awards at the Cannes film festival. Gus Van Sant wins big with his Columbine inspired Elephant with both the Palme d'Or and the best director's prize.

Groovy Film Music

Looking for some groovy film music? Look no further, and direct your browser to Exploitika! 60's & 70's Soundtrack Radio, where they have two streams running (under the auspices of Live365), Cinegroovin', which dedicates itself to the groovier '60's and '70's movie sounds, and Bloodstream, which specializes in horror film soundtracks from the '60's to the present. If it's any indication, I've been listening a lot to the Cinegroovin' stream. A lot funkier and jazzier. If you're into prog, you might dig the darker sounds of Bloodstream ( a lot of Keith Emerson, Rik Wakeman, and, of course, Goblin.

For more streaming sounds, head over to A Fistful of Soundtracks which, maybe not as esoteric as Exploitika, carries a lot of cool movie sounds, complete with back announcing like a college dj! Then you have Streamingsoundtracks.com, while more mainstream than the others I've listed, has a choice of streams based on bandwidth, and, independent of Live365, carries no advertising. It also has the largest library, so it probably won't be prone to repeating itself as the others.

For info on some of the groovier tracks, check out Score, Baby!, where you can find audio samples and cover pics of '70's Six Million Dollar Man and Kojak kid comic book/records, which I saw when I was a kid, but was of course too cool to ask my parents to buy. Stupid! Movie Grooves, out of the UK, specializes in selling this lind of esoterica, like Kosmos, a collection of cues from '60's and '70's East German science fiction films.