Lou Reed and Metallica in hit and run accident leave White Light/White Heat dead on the side of the highway - rock and roll road kill.

Everything about this is just plain wrong, from Metallica’s dunderhead playing to Reed’s total inability to find the pocket of the song…which is understandable because there is none. What is not understandable is why Reed continues to trash the Velvet Underground’s legacy. Can the surviving members of VU get a cease and desist order?

This is like watching a beloved friend racing toward the edge of a cliff in an out-of-control 1978 Ford Pinto - a sense of helpless dread overcomes you as you avert your eyes and pray for Divine intervention.

Just when you think it couldn’t get worse, Loutallica shows you just how bottomless the pit is. And that Lars fuck should have his hands bound with chicken wire and never allowed anywhere near a drum kit.

“If all this makes you feel sorry for him, then you can compliment yourself on being a real Lou Reed fan. Because that’s exactly what he wants.” Lester Bangs, 1973.

Later With Jools Holland, November 8, 2011.
 

 
Michael O’Donoghue died 17 years ago today of a cerebral hemorrhage - an appropriate departure for the brainiest of the Saturday Night Live writers. O’Donoghue had a lot on his mind and most of what we came to see of it was grimly hilarious. His dark humor combined with a dadaist sensibility resulted in some of the most bizarre shit to ever be aired on network television.

In 1979, he created the TV special Mr. Mike’s Mondo Video which was so over-the-top that NBC refused to put it on the air. Eventually it ended up in movie theaters where it died a quick death. Not even the hipsters of the time were hip enough to get it.

O’Donoghue’s mondo video was the cinematic equivalent of a really good punk rock song. It was raunchy, politically incorrect and totally spot-on as an indictment of American culture and values. It still packs a punch. And, as an added attraction, it features Sid Vicious, Debbie Harry and Klaus Nomi.

In this excerpt from Mr. Mike’s Mondo Video, we are introduced to the Dayak Indians and see the impact that western pop culture has on their traditional values. In O’Donoghue’s world nothing is sacred and the truth is painfully funny.
 

 
Though he may look like Moe from The Simpsons, Max Keiser is no slouch. A former equities-broker, Max is a colorful and outspoken commentator, whose show, the Keiser Report on Russia Today, is fast becoming required viewing. Of late, he has been hitting major home runs with his astute assessments of current financial and political events.

In the latest edition, “Financial Rape, Financial Pornography”, Max discussed with political analyst, Stacy Herbert, how Goldman-Sachs has a gun to the world’s head, and how banks implement with impunity, a shadow banking system, which is used to get away with stealing money - something Herbert compared to the punishment meted out to a starving mother who when caught stealing a $5 sandwich to feed her child, was sent to prison. As Herbert pointed out, when the top 1% “commit fraud, it is a called an error, a simple accounting error. When a normal person does it, they end up in jail.”

Keiser also talked with James Howard Kunstler, about how the Occupy Movement is changing the world and what affect it will have on next year’s Presidential election. Plus Max asks if corporations are “individuals”, and if so, should they be tried, like “individuals”, and if found guilty, executed?
 

 
The idea behind Banned in the UK was that you can learn more about a country through what it bans rather than by what it permits. Made by the multi-talented producer/director Nicola Black, the series examined the who, what, whys? of bans on front line news coverage during the Falklands War, Derek and Clive, Rave Culture, football hooliganism and sexploitation, plus a host of other surprising no-nos.

This short clip is on the horror films which were either labeled Video Nasties (39 in total), or banned by the British Board of Film Classification (originally Censors until 1984), ranging from The Good: Sam Raimi’s classic The Evil Dead, Abel Ferrara’s Driller Killer,  Tenebrae. The Bad: Night of the Bloody Apes, The Living Dead of Manchester Morgue. And the Bloody Awful: SS Experiment Camp, Snuff. All of these films were considered to be a corrupting and dangerous influence, one which Conservative MP Christopher (not so) Bright claimed would “not only affect young people but I believe they affect dogs as well.”

When The Evil Dead failed to win its opening press screening in London due yo a ban, it relocated to Glasgow, where I was fortunate enough to see it. The film was a blast, and a joy to meet director Sam Raimi and his special effects man Tom Sullivan, who revealed the secrets of filming - the Dead’s hands made from Marigold gloves and glue; their entrails baked beans. Even then, it was more than apparent Raimi was an inspiring and exceptional genius, who had only great things ahead of him.

Here’s the back story of how Video Nasties nearly unhinged Britain’s youth in the 1980s. The horror, the horror…
 

 
Previously on Dangerous Minds

Nicola Black: Mesh Digital Animation

‘Mirrorball’: Chris Cunningham, Spike Jonze, Jonathan Glazer, Michel Gondry and co.

 
Johnny Carson’s comic psychic “Carnac the Magnificent” merely held an envelope to his head, but Conan O’Brien? He really pushes the envelope. As you’ll see.
 

 
A “Beat Kidz” reporter (from Wonder Showzen) attempts to get to the bottom of this whole Wall Street exploitation thing... and succeeds better than a barrel of Steeve Doocys!

“When did you sell your conscience? You can’t run away from a child! Your money doesn’t make you better than me!”

 
Thank you Chris Campion of Berlin, Germany!/Via PFFR

 
B&W footage of Bruce Lee’s complete screen test for the role of “Kato” in The Green Hornet TV series from 1965. Lee was a new father by just three days when this was shot and then only 24-years-old. You get a good sense of what he was like then. He was such a charismatic young guy.

In the demonstration part, it’s unreal how fast he moves! How many other guys auditioned after him, I wonder? None?
 

 

 
Below, a great kung fu action sequence from The Green Hornet. I love how the Green Hornet goads this guy into fighting the great Bruce Lee. Hilarious.
 

 
Thank you @SKYENICOLAS

 
(via BuzzFeed )

Above, the real Julie and Russell

Newly leaked on YouTube: David Tennant, Catherine Tate and John Barrowman in this charming tribute to the outgoing Doctor Who production team of Russell T. Davies and Julie Gardner, when they, and Timelord Tennant, departed from the series a few years back. This was shown at the wrap party after their final episode.

The song is a riff on “Let’s Do It,” the signature number of beloved British comedienne, Victoria Wood. The “Russell & Julie” lyrics were written by Jennie Fava.
 

 
Via Neatorma

 
The Scottish comedian, Limmy’s take on Halloween. I am sure there are few out there who can identify with this.

More Limmy can be found here.
 

 
With thanks to Joseph McKay