These two short films from Rank’s classic Look at Life, hint at two of J G Ballard’s preoccupations - high rises and cars.
“Rising to High Office”, made in 1963, examines the development of high rise corporate life; while “Goodbye Piccadilly” looks at the planned redevelopment of the famous London landmark at the start of the sixties that intended to create a “double-decker” Piccadilly Circus, with a new pedestrian concourse above the ground-level traffic. The plans were lasted for most of the decade, but were killed off in 1972 when it was discovered the plans would not help the required increase in traffic flow.
Amazing quality and in fabulous color, they capture a little seen aspect of the changing face of London during its most famous decade.
Jack MacGowran was a frail-looking, bird-like man, whose frame belied his power and talent as an actor. You’ll recognize him from The Excorcist, where he played alcoholic director Burke Dennings, or perhaps from Polanski’s Cul-de-Sac, or as Professor Abronsius, in The Fearless Vampire Killers.
If Billie Whitelaw was Samuel Beckett’s favorite actress, then MacGowran was his favored actor. The pair met in the bar of a shabby London hotel, an unlikely start to an “intimate alliance” that saw MacGowran collaborate with Beckett on the definitive versions of Waiting for Godot and Endgame. From this, their partnership led to a further legendary collaboration Beginning to End. As Jordan R. Young noted in his book, The Beckett Actor:
...Jack MacGowran in the Works of Samuel Beckett (aka Beginning to End) [is] one of the most highly-acclaimed one-man shows in the history of theatre, [which] changed forever the public perception of Beckett from a purveyor of gloom and despair, to a writer of wit, humanity and courage. It also brought the actor widespread recognition as Beckett’s foremost interpreter. “The first time I saw Jack, in Endgame… I came away haunted by the impression he made on me,” said Paul Scofield. “I have remained so ever since.”
The production was filmed to celebrate Beckett’s sixtieth birthday:
Beginning to End [which] features the peerless Jack MacGowran in his one-man show, devised with Beckett and recorded for RTÉ Television in 1966. “Jack’s stage presence stays with me more than anything,” said Peter O’Toole. “This frail thing with this enormous power. He walked a tightrope as if it were a three-lane highway.” Martin Esslin, in The Theatre of the Absurd, commented on Beckett’s deep affection for MacGowran: “If ever there was a perfect congruence between a great poet’s imagination and an actor, this was it ... Jack MacGowran’s individual quality and life story are an essential ingredient in our understanding of the life and work of one of the outstanding creative minds of our time.”
Rarely seen, and long thought lost, this is a must-see, for it is one of the greatest stage performances ever committed to film.
If you are looking for no-nonsense updates about the pro-labor protests in Madison, Wisconsin from a non-corporate-owned news source, look no further than the continuous updates from the Center For Freedom and Democracy on Facebook. Go to their FB page and “like” ‘em, and you’ll get their live-blogging updates in your news feed.
Despite the slickly iced-over snow and Capitol steps, ralliers climbed onto the Capitol lawn Monday afternoon, slipping and sliding to see Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine and other notable pro-union ralliers speak. Hats were donned and the thud-thud of yellow leather work gloves sounded across the lawn. Children even sledded down the Capitol lawn’s hill on their bright green “It’s About Freedom” AFSCME signs.
As Morello took the stage, he explained his motivations for coming to Wisconsin to show he is in solidarity with unions across the country.
“This is very personal for me, because my mother was a high school teacher,” he said. “And we always had enough food on our table and clothes on our back because she was a union teacher.”
The crowd, now filling up the expanse of the Mifflin and State corner’s Capitol lawn, all the stairs and the inner Square, cheered loudly.
Morello noted that this was a historical day for Wisconsites and for union workers across the country, and that this story “will not be told by FOX news!”
The Center For Freedom and Democracy is actually located in Wisconsin, so they’re “local” in addition to not being affiliated with Rupert Murdoch…
CMD’s in-depth background report on what’s going on in Wisconsin and how the far-right Koch Brothers have gotten involved can be read here.
Randy Cohen, the “The Ethicist” columnist for The New York Times Magazine, weighs in on the news that some members of the Park Slope Food Co-op allegedly send their nannies to work their shifts. Sophia Durning, a long-time Park Slope resident, joins the conversation to speak to the ethical dilemma concerning nannies substituting for co-op members.
Jiz and The Mammograms is a re-dubbed parody of the classic 80s cartoon Jem and The Holograms. It’s performed by the drag artist Sienna D’Enema, who wishes to remain anonymous so that s/he doesn’t have to tell hir parents about it - which is completely understandable. If it was me I wouldn’t want to tell them either. The subject matter of Jiz! covers teen pregnancy, prostitution, people trafficking, crack addiction, abortion and oriental skat fetishes. Jem is no longer a world-famous rock star doing her best to help the local youth, she’s now a drug pushing pimp who gleefully encourages her teen fans to get pregnant so they can have abortions. Her mansion is now a giant brothel full of underage hookers (and a few kidnap victims), and Synergy, the super-computer that communicates to Jem, and styles her through her special earrings, has been rechristened “Electronic Drug Dealer”. Yes, it’s tasteless (REALLY tasteless), but it’s also very, very funny.
The latest episode of Jiz! has been released onto Youtube, and could possibly be the most controversial yet. It concerns a young girl (Laura, aka Shitty Panties) who is sent by an extremist Christian group to convert Jiz to the word of the Lord, but who has her own struggles to face along the way. Not least of which is her excessive flatulence. I never saw much Jem and the Holograms the first time round, but this has made me REALLY curious about the original episode.
If you have never seen Jiz! before, I recommend you start with the episodes after the jump, as “Laura” contains a few in-jokes (including The Golden Shower Girls). If you have seen Jiz! then you know what to expect. Brace yourselves:
Laura - Taking It Up The Chocolate Yahweh (obviously this is NSFW)
With the Daft Punk soundtrack for Tron Legacy giving off some serious Vangelis and Jean Michel Jarre vibes, it seems like it is finally acceptable to be influenced by 80s-style electronic ambience. The album Does It Look Like I’m Here? by the band Emeralds (no “the” - that’s a Japanese surf-rock band) is one of the best examples of a modern take on this sound, and how to do it well.
Released on the Austrian label Editions Mego last year, it’s been a bit of a sleeper hit with the electronica and techno community, ending 2010 in many best-of lists. Full of washy synths, cliff-edge guitar dynamics, slowly building arpeggios and practically no drums, it brings to mind the aforementioned artists in their darkest and most introspective moments. It’s psychedelic, it’s moody, and for the want of a better term it’s progressive. I would imagine it’s a good soundtrack for certain kinds of herbal refreshment.
Emeralds - Genetic (part 1)
Emeralds - Double Helix
Emeralds - Does It Look Like I’m Here?
Emeralds have been gigging and recording for the last 4 or 5 years - Does It Look Like I’m Here? is their fourth album, and their most accessible so far. But they’re not from Greece, Scandinavia or Germany - the band actually hail from Ohio. Along with similar ballpark acts from the States like Zombi (from Pittsburgh), it makes me wonder if this kind of epic progressive-synth music doesn’t have the same negative cultural references there that it has in the UK? I know Tangerine Dream were pretty big in the US in their day. However, the cultural legacy of punk in Britain meant that they were seen as being super uncool. Thankfully the times have changed and we can now accept this as being simply great music. You can buy Does It Look Like I’m Here?, um, here.
In 1963, Belgian writer, painter and mystic Henri Michaux collaborated with film maker Eric Duvivier on Images Du Monde Visionnaire. It was produced by Swiss pharmaceutical company Sandoz as an educational tool to demonstrate the visual effects of mescaline and hashish. The film was based on Michaux’s experiences with psychedelics which he documented in his books Miserable Miracle, L’Infini Turbulent and Paix Dans Les Brisements.
Michaux denounced the film as not being truly representative of the psychedelic experience. He felt that Duvivier, who had never taken mescaline, had no grasp of the drug experience and that film itself was incapable of replicating the visionary aspect of tripping.
When it was proposed to make a film about mescaline hallucinations, I have declared, I have repeated and I repeat it again, that that is to attempt the impossible. Even in a superior film, made with substantial means, with all one needs for an exceptional production, I must state beforehand the images will be insufficient. The images would have to be more dazzling, more instable, more subtle, more changeable, more ungraspable, more trembling, more tormenting, more writhing, infinitely more charged, more intensely beautiful, more frighteningly colored, more aggressive, more idiotic, more strange.
With regard to the film’s speed, it should be so high that all scenes would have to fit in fifty seconds.
While I am sympathetic to Michaux’s frustrations on a spiritual level, I disagree with him about film not being up to the task of duplicating the psychedelic experience on a visual level. Of all the art forms, cinema can come closest to bending the mind in ways that approximate the psychedelic experience. The best examples of which are the films of Stan Brakhage and fragments of James Cameron’s Avatar.
More of an avant-garde tone poem than educational film, here is Images Du Monde Visionnaire in its entirety:
loudQUIETloud documents The Pixies first reunion tour which took place in 2004. I saw their recent re-reunion tour last year and while the band sounded solid the performance lacked passion. I felt they were going through the motions. I kept waiting for the group to look as if they were having fun. Kim Deal appeared to be enjoying herself. The audience loved them. So what do I know?
Coming more than 10 years after an acrimonious breakup, the Pixies’ reunion tour was called “Pixies Sell Out,” a cheeky reference to their instantly sold-out shows and the blunt reality that they’re doing it for the money. No one should begrudge them the latter: It’s one thing for bands to crash on couches and blow the door proceeds on beer and greasy spoons at the beginning of their careers, but once they get into their 30s and 40s, there are bills to pay. For fans of the seminal alt-rock quartet, the Pixies’ reunion was momentous, but in the solid behind-the-scenes documentary loudquietloud, the band comes across as considerably more muted in its enthusiasm. While there are no big meltdowns, the members don’t really function that well as a unit, and by all indications, they wouldn’t spend another minute together if the tour weren’t refilling the depleted accounts that royalties can no longer cover.
A nice balance of well-photographed live footage and backstage anti-drama, loudquietloud is probably the only all-access (or part-access, anyway) recording of the ‘04 tour, and it’s valuable for that alone. Following the Pixies from their first rehearsal through the last night of their tour-ending New York City stint, the film contrasts the fans’ passion and energy with the band members’ cool professionalism. They all have reasons for distraction: Frontman Charles Thompson (a.k.a. Frank Black) and guitarist Joey Santiago both have wives and children back home; bassist Kim Deal, accompanied by her twin sister/sole confidante Kelley, is only one year removed from drug and alcohol rehabilitation; and drummer David Lovering is dogged by a Valium addiction that nearly derails the tour. When they aren’t performing together, they retreat into solo projects: Thompson looks for a new label for his Frank Black records, Deal works on songs for her band The Breeders, Santiago labors over a independent-movie score, and Lovering practices his magic act.
Whatever serious issues they might have had with each other in the past seem to have been tabled for now—indeed, they aren’t ever hostile or even unkind in the whole film—but they don’t exactly come across as a family, either. Make no mistake: Theirs is a mercenary reunion, and one they’ve paid plenty of dues to deserve.” Scott Tobias
Former Tea Party Express chairman Mark Williams, the low IQ buffoon who wrote the racist “letter to Abe Lincoln” from “the coloreds” has a, um, brand new bag…
Well, Williams has a new idea. Now he’s going to infiltrate pro-union protests pretending to be a supporter, then try to get in front of cameras and make outrageous statements to discredit the demonstrators. And with that toxic mix of vitriol, low cunning, and pure stupidity for which he’s infamous, he posted his plans on his website and invited others to do the same thing: FIGHT THE SEIU WITH TACTIC THEY USE AGAINST US – THIS WEEK! | Mark Williams News & Commentary.
That link will take you to an SEIU page where you can sign up as an “organizer” for one of their upcoming major rallies to support the union goons in Wisconsin.
Here is what I am doing in Sacramento, where they are holding a 5:30 PM event this coming Tuesday: (1) I signed up as an organizer (2) with any luck they will contact me and I will have an “in” (3) in or not I will be there and am asking as many other people as can get there to come with, all of us in SEIU shirts (those who don’t have them we can possibly buy some from vendors likely to be there) (4) we are going to target the many TV cameras and reporters looking for comments from the members there (5) we will approach the cameras to make good pictures… signs under our shirts that say things like “screw the taxpayer!” and “you OWE me!” to be pulled out for the camera (timing is important because the signs will be taken away from us) (6) we will echo those slogans in angry sounding tones to the cameras and the reporters. (7) if I do get the ‘in’ I am going to do my darnedest to get podium access and take the mic to do that rant from there…with any luck and if I can manage the moments to build up to it, I can probably get a cheer out of the crowd for something extreme.
WARNING: When around these union events do NOT instigate ANY physical confrontation, walk away from anyone who tries to start one with you. These people WILL have a mob mentality and ARE dangerous …
Several Tea Party chapters around the country are planning to join with me, if you are a member of one in your area please contact them for details. If they are not participating get them to!
*****UPDATE: IOWA, COLORADO, MASSACHUSETTS AND SEVERAL OTHER STATES HAVE CHECKED IN…. Tea Party Patriot groups and individuals are flooding me with emails vowing to participate and come up with their own creative ruses! Several have also reminded me that we have a distinct advantage in that the SEIU primarily represents non-English speaking illegal aliens so we will be the ones whose comments will make air!!!!*****
******Help me keep this going! I need to travel beyond Sacramento to the other SEIU rally cities and then Madison, and in short order! Please contribute!!! Click here for secure link*****
Chances are that because I am publishing this they’ll catch wind, but it is worth the chance if you take it upon yourself to act…there’s only one of me but there are millions of you and I know that you CAN do this!
Our goal is to make the gathering look as greedy and goonish as we know that it is, ding their credibility with the media and exploit the lazy reporters who just want dramatic shots and outrageous quotes for headlines. Even if it becomes known that we are plants the quotes and pictures will linger as defacto truth.
What a sleazy creep.
How idiotic to announce you’re going to do something like this! Who is this guy Jethro Bodine??? I would imagine that if anyone recognizes him—see pic above, btw—he’s gonna get a severe beat-down. Some people, well, that’s all they understand, isn’t it?
