Superheroines Fight a Common Enemy in Breast Cancer Awareness Ads
There have been some great, attention-getting breast cancer awareness campaigns floating around lately. Social media activists Boobie Wednesday, for example, are taking every online opportunity to remind women and men to perform monthly self-exams. Now artist Maisa Chaves has contributed to the cause with her ad campaign for DDB Mozambique. Featuring DC and Marvel superheroines encouraging people to kick cancer in its ass early by doing auto-examinations, the ads will hopefully grab hold of those who have been avoiding dealing with this important issue. She-Hulk, Wonder Woman, Storm, and Catwoman remind us that no one is immune to breast cancer below.
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Journal: New Animals [Week of Oct 24]
∞ Writerly things:
Trailer for new Herzog; William Friedkin interviews Fritz Lang; beautiful horror film soundtracks; Cuckoo’s Nest asylum photos + more.
∞ Reading
50 Watts, World Enough, and Time by James Kahn, The New York Times on José Mojica Marins, and new Girls on Film about feminism and horror by Monika Bartyzel.
∞ Follow
Friends new and old worth your time:
@SeraphicManta @NoVisibleScars @DailyGrindhouse @kesslerboy
Happy Halloween!
Artist Jonathon Keats Imperils Museums with His Copernican Revolution
I received this press release from artist and philosopher Jonathon Keats about his new exhibition that opens tomorrow in San Francisco’s Modernism Gallery. This is the same gentleman who attempted to genetically engineer God, and his work is worth a peek. If you’re out west, please pay him a visit.
Four hundred and sixty-eight years after Nicolaus Copernicus informed the world that Earth orbits the Sun, his revolutionary idea is gaining acceptance with artists, and threatening to shake up museum collections from New York to Tokyo and Paris. An exhibition at Modernism Gallery in San Francisco, opening on October 20th, will be the first to present art made in accordance with Copernican principles, including paintings the color of the universe. The show will be supplemented with Copernican cuisine and music.
The new Copernican art promises to be more profound than any painting or sculpture ever before seen, according to artist and philosopher Jonathon Keats, who has previously exhibited abstract artwork by both cypress trees and extraterrestrials. “And that’s not promising much,” he says, “when you consider that art on our planet has hardly evolved since the first cave paintings were made.”
Mr. Keats acknowledges that reform takes time. “Science didn’t really begin until the Copernican revolution,” he says. “After millennia of egocentric navel-gazing, astronomers learned from Copernicus that there’s nothing special about us. We’re on an average planet in a typical galaxy, and that’s to our advantage because it lets us assume that whatever we observe here, like the speed of light or the forces within atoms, will be the same everywhere.” In other words, scientists can make generalizations about the entire cosmos without ever leaving home, because everything about our home is perfectly mediocre.
Peter Murphy Lends His Talents to ‘The Lady ParaNorma’
Bauhaus front man Peter Murphy lends his booming vocal talents to the dreamy, stunningly animated The Lady ParaNorma. Director Vincent Marcone (AKA My Pet Skeleton) — a multiple Emmy award-winning artist and filmmaker — has teamed up with horror mag movie outlet, Rue Morgue Cinema, for a ghostly filmic poem. When an eccentric woman is haunted by the howls of specters, she follows their strange call to uncover the mystery. Gothic icon Murphy added his voice to the project for several of the darkly beautiful soundscapes. He also narrates the film, which is currently making the festival rounds. Marcone recently shared an amusing story about his recording session with the artist. “‘Was that ok?’ he asked politely when he was done. The lot of us sat there unresponsive for a more than a moment, paralyzed by our own goosebumps. ‘Yes Peter, that was good … ‘” Hit the jump for a peek at Murphy in the studio and to check out the trailer for the film.
Flavorwire Night Watch
Last week I wrote a bunch of stuff for Flavorwire. You can catch up on all the posts over here.
Review: Bad Dreams and Visiting Hours
Eleven years before Lorena Bobbitt severed her husband’s penis after he abused and raped her, TV journalist Deborah Ballin (Lee Grant) was the voice for one women’s domestic violence case in Jean-Claude Lord’s Visiting Hours. The anchorwoman is eventually attacked in her home because of her feminist, outspoken views and is hospitalized. Her attacker is a madman who suffered his own fair share of domestic drama as a child, but has vowed to hunt down Deborah in a violent killing spree regardless. Michael Ironside is Colt Hawker — who in the first few minutes of the movie will win you over with his cross-dressing get-up and menacing mug. No one does maniacal like Ironside, which is why you’ll be able to forgive the movie’s multiple jump scares — a cheap trick, but effective when delivered by a creep as cool as the Canadian actor. Unfortunately the film is a bit of a mess — aimless and unsure who its lead heroine is — but Lord effectively uses the hospital’s sterile, lifeless interior as the backdrop for bloody action. Still, the best thing about Visiting Hours is its memorable movie trailer, which features the lights of the hospital facade forming a skull.
You can pick up a double-bill of hospital horror from Shout Factory, who have pitted this Canadian slasher against the American supernatural terror Bad Dreams, starring Jennifer Rubin. The film feels like it could be A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors all over again, but actually has decent gore and other strange stuff from The Craft’s Andrew Fleming to make it more memorable than a mere copycat.
BBC Documentary: Radiophonic Sounds Like Alchemy
A fascinating look inside BBC’s Radiophonic Workshop in the 1960s, its influence on the sci-fi genre, and how it shaped the history of electronic music. Includes footage of the old greats like Delia Derbyshire, Brian Hodgson, John Baker — and all the insane instruments and equipment they used to create pioneering sounds.
San Francisco Smut Documentary Screening
Tonight, people at YBCA in San Francisco are going to watch a documentary about smut that has been making the rounds at the festival circuit. Director Michael Stabile, DP/editor Ben Leon, and producer Jack Shamama — all vets of the adult film industry in their own right — got together to make Smut Capital of America. The documentary takes a look at San Francisco’s sleazy Tenderloin district in the ’70s. According to YBCA:
“Smut Capital of America is the title of Michael Stabile’s in-progress documentary which chronicles San Francisco’s reign as the center of porn production in the U.S. during the early 70s. In 1969, San Francisco became the first city in the U.S. to effectively legalize pornography, hugely boosting our reputation as a boomtown for sex, and eventually opening up the floodgates to the rest of the country. The series begins with a screening/discussion with Stabile and continues through August 18 with a wide variety of films made during the era. All will be presented in their original film formats (not digital transfers).”
Check out the clip below. You know if John Waters is scared, it’s serious. Prepare to learn about the origin of the “split beaver.”
Revolver’s ‘King George VI: The Man Behind the King’s Speech’
Revolver Entertainment’s King George VI: The Man Behind the King’s Speech tells the true story of the shy statesman’s rise to the throne and how he overcame his personal limitations to save a nation.
The role of King was a position he never wanted — in fact, it devastated him — and England was just as wary due to concern surrounding his various medical conditions and oft-talked about stammer. After working with speech therapist Lionel Logue, and thanks to the support of his loving wife Lady Elizabeth, he was able to overcome his fear of public speaking and become a valiant leader — particularly loved for his commitment and sympathies to his people during World War II.
Revolver’s DVD includes commentary from Colin Firth, whose role as King George VI in The King’s Speech won him last year’s Oscar for Best Actor. The film’s director Tom Hooper also provides thoughts, as does Logue’s grandson. The feature-length documentary contains original footage from the King’s reign, and several extras (King George V Memorial, Royal Welcome at Cape Town, Royal Christening, and the movie’s trailer). King George VI: The Man Behind the King’s Speech is also available On Demand and for download. Visit Revolver for more details, and buy the DVD over here.
Review: The Baby
Magnum Force and Beneath the Planet of the Apes director Ted Post made one of the most bizarre films of the ’70s when he created The Baby. Resembling more of a TV family melodrama than the horror film you might be expecting — but still containing some truly strange, hair-raising moments (there’s no competing with Marianna Hill’s coif, however) — this story about a weirdly tight-knit family with a peculiar baby is an over-the-top absurdity.
Anna Gentry (Anjanette Comer) is an eager social worker who has been assigned to the Wadsworth family’s long-neglected case. It doesn’t take long for her to become obsessed with Baby (David Mooney aka David Manzy) — the family’s adult son who still wears diapers, coos like an infant, and sleeps in a crib. Although Anna is convinced that Baby has the potential to grow out of his unusual condition, Mrs. Wadsworth and her lusty, disturbed daughters disagree and do everything in their power to prevent her interference.
The Baby pokes at what filmmakers like David Lynch have demonstrated with movies like Blue Velvet — the suburbs are a truly terrible place. Where else would someone’s slutty sister sex up the local sleaze bag at her little brother’s birthday party? The burbs in The Baby are where mom looks and acts more like Mommie Dearest (bless Strangers on a Train’s Ruth Roman), the babysitter will do anything to get the job done, and murder is the only way to get rid of your problems.
Demented, uncomfortable, and absolutely ridiculous, The Baby encapsulates a part of 70′s cult cinema that is best served with Quaaludes, squeeze cheese, and nylon panties. Severin Films delivers another great transfer with their new DVD, including several interviews and trailers. Pick up a copy over here.
