How have I lived my life not knowing about the professional window cleaning service known as Men In Kilts? I mean, I don’t think I’ve ever seen these dudes around LA or America cleaning peoples windows—I’m sure I’d remember! How does wearing a kilt improve one’s window cleaning skills? Doesn’t it get quite drafty “up there” in the winter? What is this window-washing peep-show all about anyways?
This piece on new wave and punk rock appeared on TV show 20/20 in 1979. It’s actually pretty level-headed and contains some nice vintage footage of Talking Heads, Blondie, The Clash and more.
The clip cuts off mid-way through a short piece on Klaus Nomi. You can see the rest after the jump.
Texas Republican Congressman Louie Gohmert has long distinguished himself as one of the least intelligent GOP members of Congress (and that’s really, really saying something). Now he’s doubling down on the dumb... Via Think Progress:
Taking the GOP’s anti-tax ideology to its logical conclusion, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) introduced today his own “American Jobs Act” — giving his bill the same name as President Obama’s plan — which would completely eliminate corporate income taxes. Gohmert claims this will create jobs:
It is a very simple bill, which will eliminate the corporate tax which serves as a tariff that our American companies pay on goods they produce here in America. This bill will actually create jobs in America
But Gohmert’s plan is even more irksome considering that he’s spent the last few days attacking Obama’s jobs plan because it would prohibit employers from discriminating against people who have been unemployed. Gohmert appeared on various conservative media outlets to expose this “devilish detail,” saying on Sean Hannity’s radio show yesterday, via Political Correction:
GOHMERT: We have created in this bill a newly protected class, not on race, creed, color, sex — not even sexual orientation, this is a new one. It’s not religion, it’s a prohibition of discrimination in employment on the basis of an individual’s status as unemployed. By golly, if you apply for a job and you’re unemployed and you feel like you got discriminated against and not hired because you were unemployed, see a lawyer. You’ve got a claim under this bill.
Well, it did take until the 1980s for Hollywood to envision “RoboCop,” didn’t it?
Now back to the photo: Note that this mechanical cop sprays tear gas from his tiny pee-pee. One Redditor points out, “It’s so small we’ll cry tears of laughter.”
This Saturday night in Los Angles, there’s going to be a special art show hosted by Neil Gaiman and actress Fairuza Balk and produced by Dangerous Minds pal Lenora Claire:
“Illuminate Parkinsons” is a benefit for Becky Hurd’s Illuminate charity fighting young onset Parkinson’s disease
The aim of Illuminate is to raise awareness of Young Onset Parkinsons while raising funds to support Parkinsons charities. The Illuminate Parkinsons International Photography Exhibition has been created by Becky’s best friend and celebrity photographer, Allan Amato. This amazing photographic journey into the world of Parkinsons spans two years beginning in September 17th at Pop tART Gallery. Subjects in the exhibit include Terry Gilliam, Neil Gaiman, Kevin Smith and an assortment of other fascinating people all of whom lent their support to the project.
The initial aim of the Illuminate Parkinsons campaign was to raise £100,000 for Parkinsons charities. So far the campaign has generated over £51,000 since it began with the first Illuminate Ball in Birmingham in April 2010. Since the first ball Illuminate Parkinsons has gone from strength to strength with many new fundraising projects.
Illuminate Parkinsons by Allan Amato
Saturday, September 17th, 8-11pm Pop tART Gallery, 3023 W. 6th St., Los Angeles
Wednesday on MSNBC, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) described the U.S. Census Bureau’s annual report on poverty as “a horror show.”
The report found that 46.2 million Americans were living in poverty, the highest amount since the Census began recording the statistic 52 years ago.
“The middle class is collapsing and we have now by far the most unequal distribution of wealth and income of any major country on earth,” Sanders said.
“We need aggressive action on the part of the president and the Congress, and if the Republicans continue to say ‘no, no, no to jobs,’ the president has got to continue going around the country,” he added, “because I think the overwhelming majority of the people want a jobs program, they want to protect Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, they do not want to give any more tax breaks to the wealthy and large corporations.”
Here’s something you don’t see everyday, mugshots of eight Amish guys.
Apparently these rebels without a car were arrested for refusing “to pay fines for failing to affix orange safety triangles to their horse-drawn buggies.”
Full disclosure: I used to work in a four-story NYC nightclub called “Mars” in the early 90s. Moby worked there as a DJ, while I worked one flight up (Vin Diesel worked there, too, at the front door).
Anytime I happened to pass by Moby’s DJ booth going to the toilet, I always made the mental note that I hated whatever he was playing. When he got famous and started getting compared by the music press to Brian Eno and David Byrne for making music for yuppies even blander than Sade’s, I was both mystified and dismayed…
Moby wants to make a porn movie starring men with small penises.
The ‘Porcelain’ singer can’t understand why X-rated films feature men with larger-than-average manhoods and wants to create a flick which won’t make viewers feel inadequate.
Moby - who admits he has watched many adult movies in his lifetime - told Bizarre magazine: “I’ve never understood why porn made for men often stars studly guys with enormous you know?
“Surely that’s intimidating to most guys watching? My porn flick would exclusively feature men with normal-to-titchy-sized penises in order to make viewers feel better.”
The comment thread about this on Joe.My.God has some nice zingers courtesy of a wit named Clay…
Larry and Mary Grabills, a Christian couple living in Colorado, wanted to “prove” that Noah’s Ark was not a myth. They constructed a 50ft. boat from biblical information about the supposed vessel, weighing 11,000 lbs. They gave their home-made ark a trial run on the Pueblo Reservoir last week. From the KKTV website:
“Just something we felt like the Lord wanted us to do,” said Larry Grabill.
Larry and his wife Mary spent 15 months building the Biblical ark, taking basic dimensions directly from the Bible.
“Noah’s Ark was up to 500 feet long and 83 feet wide. Ours is a tenth scale of that, at 50 feet and 8.5 feet wide,” said Larry.
The couple says they want to call attention to the truth of the Bible and dispel the idea that Noah’s Ark was a myth.
Complete with two of each kind of animal, the couple hopes their ark will serve as a symbol of faith.
“We believe the Bible is true, every word of it, as was originally written, and we want to testify to that,” said Larry.
The couple spent $50,000 building the boat. Next, they want to actually build a full-size Noah’s Ark out of wood and sail it in the ocean; something that has never been done before. They believe by doing this they can vividly demonstrate that is was possible for Noah to build an Ark that size out of wood, and make it float.
Usually I like to poke fun at dumb people, but these folks seem too nice and um, innocent, to do that to, so all I’m going to say is “Nice boat!” which it is…
Still, I can’t help but repost this comment from the KKTV website:
“Proof” would be an “Ark” built as described in the book, a full sized version, floating in the ocean, with every creature mentioned. No communication from the outside world for the duration described in the book.”
Last year Patti Smith paid tribute to “filmmaker, musicologist, ethnographer, bohemian, and occultist, Harry Smith” at The Hammer Museum in Los Angeles.
In this simple and sweet video, Patti reads from her memoir, tells stories and sings a Hank Williams tune as well as her own.
The audio makes it sound at times like Patti has a slight speech impediment. It’s kind of endearing.
Directed by Transformers star Shia LaBouef, Marilyn Manson’s self-produced video for his new song “No Reason” pays homage to Alejandro Jodorowsky’s The Holy Mountain. Manson and Jodorowsky are friends (Alejandro wanted to cast Marilyn in an El Topo sequel) and I guess this is Manson’s way of honoring his master.
Other influences I detect floating through the video are from George Bataille’s “The Story Of The Eye,” Takashi Miike’s Ichi, The Killer, Joel-Peter Witkin and new wave porn flicks like Night Dreams and Cafe Flesh.
I don’t think Manson is challenging himself with this. Been there, done that. But, anything that calls attention to Jodorowsky is in my opinion a good thing.
Like many traditional collage artist, the Glasgow-based Lola Dupré makes all her work out of just paper, scissors and glue. But unlike most artists Lola goes further than relying on a simple juxtaposition of imagery to make a point. Instead she uses multiple copies of source material, employing thousands of cuts and manipulating tiny shards of paper to create a strange, amorphous, almost fractal vision. Her work is like looking at a dissolving reality reflected in a spoon.
In a recent interview on the Empty Kingdom blog, Lola says this of her modus operandi:
t came about through experiments with paper as a sculptural medium, through a chance arrangement in 3D forms I began to think about applying it in 2D. I guess the work could say a few different things about me; I think I am meticulous and multi-dimensional as a person, perhaps that comes across in my work, I’m not sure. In my opinion, I create, and it is up to the viewer to decipher things and find meaning.
You can read the rest of that interview here, and see all of Lola’s work at her website www.loladupre.com - in the meantime, click read on (below) to see more of her exceptional work.
Is “Freedom” just another word for nothing left to lose?
OR is “freedom” now some sort of ironic code word for DEATH in the fucked-up lexicon of stupidity employed by the modern Republican Madhatter’s tea party? Hard to tell with these assholes anymore, but there is a fascinating—and tragic and utterly repulsive—backstory to Congressman Ron Paul’s comments about “freedom” ‘n’ shit during the debate the other night. From Vulture:
At the fifth GOP debate this week, moderator Wolf Blitzer asked Ron Paul, a doctor, whether someone who opts to not buy health insurance and then gets sick should be allowed to die. The crowd responded with startling shouts of “Yeah!” followed by applause, leaving even Rick Perry “taken aback.” Paul’s answer, while more gentle, was more or less the same. “That’s what freedom is all about: taking your own risks. This whole idea that you have to take care of everybody ... ” said Paul, who was cut off by clapping from the audience. While you wouldn’t know it from his answer, Blizter’s hypothetical probably hit close to home for Paul, whose campaign manager Kent Snyder died young of pneumonia — without insurance — in 2008.
He was just 49 years old when he died of complications from the virus on June 26, two weeks after Paul dropped out of the race. Snyder’s mother was left with around $400,000 in medical costs. Paul supporters set up a donation fund to help with the debt.
Snyder was credited as “the driving force behind Ron Paul’s presidential bid” in the last election, having turned “his one-man operation into a national grass-roots phenomenon that now calls itself ‘The Freedom Movement.’”
That same freedom, which Paul referred to in the debate, complicated Snyder’s health problems, as a preexisting condition made insurance premiums too expensive, according to Snyder’s sister. After Snyder’s death, Paul wrote on his website: “Like so many in our movement, Kent sacrificed much for the cause of liberty. Kent poured every ounce of his being into our fight for freedom. He will always hold a place in my heart and in the hearts of my family.”
I’m quite sure that Mr. Snyder happily and patriotically died without burdening the wealthy “job creator” class of this mighty nation. Congressman Paul’s words at the debate must have been a great comfort to Snyder’s family…
Attention Tea party dummies: Look at what the Libertarian philosophy did for Kent Snyder? It killed him!
WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE MINDS OF PEOPLE WHO BELIEVE SUCH THINGS?
Sadly, you can’t just snap your fingers in front of an idiot’s face and tell them to “Wise up,” because it doesn’t work that way.
Viva la muerte! Long live death!
As the United States sinks further and further into its death spiral, all you can do is watch and wonder in astonishment. We’re doomed!
The Hollywood film producer John Calley died September 13, at his home in Los Angeles, after a long illness.
Calley was responsible for The Loved One, The Americanization of Emily, Catch-22, and more recently The Remains of the Day, and the popcorn fodder Angels and Demons and The DaVinci Code.
But it will be for his work at Warner Brothers that Calley will be best remembered, as the Los Angeles Times reports:
In 1969, [Calley] became executive vice president in charge of production at Warner Bros.; he became president in 1975.
“Under Calley, Warners became the class act in town,” Peter Biskind wrote in his 1998 book Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex-Drugs-And-Rock ‘N’ Roll Generation Saved Hollywood.
“Urbane and witty, he gave the impression that he was somehow above it all, slumming in the Hollywood cesspool,” Biskind wrote. “As one wag put it, he was the blue in the toilet bowl.”
At Warner Bros., Calley created what Biskind called “an atmosphere congenial to ‘60s-going-on ‘70s filmmakers” and was known for relying heavily on his own taste in picking films.
Among Warner’s Calley-era bill of fare: Woodstock, A Clockwork Orange, Mean Streets, The Towering Inferno, “McCabe and Mrs. Miller, The Exorcist, Dog Day Afternoon, Deliverance, Dirty Harry, All the President’s Men, Blazing Saddles, Superman and Chariots of Fire.
As a salute, here’s a brief video resume of that golden era of film-making.
