Photorealistic David Lynch head by contemporary sculptor Jamie Salmon. From the artist:

I like to use the human form as a way of exploring the nature of what we consider to be “real” and how we react when our visual perceptions of this reality are challenged. In our modern society we have become obsessed with our outward appearance, and now with modern technology we are able to alter this in almost anyway we desire. How does this outward change affect us and how we are perceived by others?

(via Nerdcore)

 
Today marks the first time The T.A.M.I. Show has seen a proper release since it was in theaters over 40 years ago, although bootlegs have been easy to come by since the late 80s. James Brown’s inspired performance—perhaps the finest moment of his entire career—will knock your socks off.

Filmed at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, October 29, 1964, the performers also included Chuck Berry, Gerry And The Pacemakers, Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, Marvin Gaye, Lesley Gore, Jan & Dean, Billy J. Kramer & The Dakotas, The Supremes, The Barbarians and The Rolling Stones. The DVD, put out by the mighty Shout Factory contains restored footage of the Beach Boys performance which was cut from the theatrical release.
 

New Weird author Jeff VanderMeer unleashed a long-forgotten pile of shlock on his blog… TENTACLES, an Italian rip-off of Jaws featuring, yep, a giant octopus. This seems ripe for a comeback. Disturbingly, I actually remember this movie.

Yesterday, while doing our taxes, we followed up Pandorum, Dune, Moon, and Alien with a movie on cable…Tentacles. From 1977, clear rip-off of Jaws.

I have a feeling that everyone else already knows about this D-movie, but we were just aghast, watching winters, Huston, and others do their best impression of stink-o-rama. In one scene a killer whale trainer embarks on a long monologue aimed at convincing the whale to fight the killer giant octopus.

Here’s more of it, for masochists…

More clips at the original link.

(Jeff VanderMeer: Tentacles!)

(Empire of the Ants/Tentacles)

(Jeff VanderMeer: City of Saints and Madmen)

 
Still time to catch this show if you haven’t seen it yet and are lucky enough to live in Los Angeles. The exhibit runs until April 3, 2010. How I wish the above piece, Bad Feng Shui Cake by Scott Hove was mine!

The show also features work by Mark Ryden, Shag, Kris Kuksi, Jonathan Viner, Martin Witfooth, Candice Tripp, Jesse Hazelip, Lori Earley, Chris Mars, Jeff Soto, Kevin Cyr, Thomas Doyle, Scott Musgrove, Victor Castillo, Amy Sol, Audrey Kawasaki, Brendan Danielsson, Brian Dettmer, Greg “Craola” Simkins, Harma Heikens, Attaboy, Alex Pardee, Sas Christian, Colin Christian, Yoko D’Holbachie, Travis Lampe, Junko Mizuno, Brandt Peters, Mia, Chet Zar, Kathie Olivas, Johnny “KMNDZ” Rodriguez, Sam Gibbons, Annie Owens, Yosuke Ueno, Skinner, Ewelina Ferruso, and Mike Shine

Copro Gallery, Bergamot Station, 2525 Michigan Ave , Unit T5, Santa Monica , CA 90404

 
Considering all of the ridiculous hyperbole from the Right—have any of you been watching Fox News?—David Frum, former speechwriter to President George W. Bush is the one character on either side who really nailed the political significance of what happened on Sunday: The Republican Party is toast!

Conservatives and Republicans today suffered their most crushing legislative defeat since the 1960s.

It’s hard to exaggerate the magnitude of the disaster. Conservatives may cheer themselves that they’ll compensate for today’s expected vote with a big win in the November 2010 elections. [...]

No illusions please: This bill will not be repealed. Even if Republicans scored a 1994 style landslide in November, how many votes could we muster to re-open the “doughnut hole” and charge seniors more for prescription drugs? How many votes to re-allow insurers to rescind policies when they discover a pre-existing condition? How many votes to banish 25 year olds from their parents’ insurance coverage? And even if the votes were there – would President Obama sign such a repeal?

We followed the most radical voices in the party and the movement, and they led us to abject and irreversible defeat. [...]

So today’s defeat for free-market economics and Republican values is a huge win for the conservative entertainment industry. Their listeners and viewers will now be even more enraged, even more frustrated, even more disappointed in everybody except the responsibility-free talkers on television and radio. For them, it’s mission accomplished. For the cause they purport to represent, it’s Waterloo all right: ours.

 
Waterloo (Frum Forum)

 
Hear the upcoming—due out April 13—MGMT album, Congratulations, streaming from their website. Apparently there is a poor-sounding version already making the bot torrent rounds and the band would prefer that their fans hear a version with higher fidelity. I’ve had a promo copy of this for a few weeks now, and I must say that I think it’s absolutely magnificent. At first I didn’t hear anything that grabbed me like Kids and The Youth did. But allow this one some time and it will indeed grab you. It’s more subtle than Oracular Spectacular, but it’s a fine follow-up to that classic debut. With songs titles like Song For Dan Treacy and the playful Brian Eno, you can see where their heads are at. These guys are on fire. Highly, highly recommended. So far it’s my favorite album of the year.

Below a rare video of the Television Personalities featuring Dan Treacy (Grant Morrison loves him also). It’s obvious to hear his influence on the MGMT sound. Let’s hope they start a Dan Treacy revival. About time!
 

 
Norway’s Serena-Maneesh is, in my semi-questionable opinion, one of the only neo-shoegaze/ noisepop/ whatever outfits worth listening to. They make wonderfully multi-layered records and are a force to be reckoned with live. Today their new LP No 2: Abyss in B Minor is released on the venerable label 4AD. Southern California music fans are encouraged to come out to see them tonight at the Troubadour. Your humble bloggist will be making a rare stage turn, dusting off my old Medicine gear and joining S-M onstage for a couple of numbers. Come say hello !
 

Fucking great video for “Feel It” by Brian Jonestown Massacre by Jon Audarson. I just watched this about five times in a row.

(Brian Jonestown Massacre: Who Killed Sgt Pepper?)

 
via Crooks And Liars
 
Here are ten benefits which come online within six months of the President’s signature on the health care bill:

1. Adult children may remain as dependents on their parents’ policy until their 27th birthday
2. Children under age 19 may not be excluded for pre-existing conditions
3. No more lifetime or annual caps on coverage
4. Free preventative care for all
5. Adults with pre-existing conditions may buy into a national high-risk pool until the exchanges come online. While these will not be cheap, they’re still better than total exclusion and get some benefit from a wider pool of insureds.
6. Small businesses will be entitled to a tax credit for 2009 and 2010, which could be as much as 50% of what they pay for employees’ health insurance.
7. The “donut hole” closes for Medicare patients, making prescription medications more affordable for seniors.
8. Requirement that all insurers must post their balance sheets on the Internet and fully disclose administrative costs, executive compensation packages, and benefit payments.
9. Authorizes early funding of community health centers in all 50 states (Bernie Sanders’ amendment). Community health centers provide primary, dental and vision services to people in the community, based on a sliding scale for payment according to ability to pay.
10. AND no more rescissions. Effective immediately, you can’t lose your insurance because you get sick.

 
Proud to be an American today! This is a wonderful thing for the people of this country. What a great day to be alive.

The Republican Party has been routed for a generation—or forever—and they know it. Now onwards to financial reform!

 
This lawsuit from the heirs of the great comic artist Jack Kirby has been a looong time coming. The legal ramifications of this case are immense, considering the billion dollar value of these corporate trademarks. Comic artists often signed away rights to their creations during the “Golden Age” of the industry, putting their signatures on contracts measurably worse than the ones signed by blues musicians.

From the New York Times:

When the Walt Disney Company agreed in August to pay $4 billion to acquire Marvel Entertainment, the comic book publisher and movie studio, it snared a company with a library that includes some of the world’s best-known superheroes, including Spider-Man, the X-Men, the Incredible Hulk and the Fantastic Four.

The heirs of Jack Kirby, the legendary artist who co-created numerous Marvel mainstays, were also intrigued by the deal. Mr. Kirby’s children had long harbored resentments about Marvel, believing they had been denied a share of the lush profits rolling out of the company’s superheroes franchises.

They spent years preparing for a lawsuit by enlisting a Los Angeles copyright lawyer, Marc Toberoff, to represent them. When the Marvel deal was struck, Mr. Toberoff — who helped win a court ruling last year returning a share of Superman profits to heirs of one of that character’s creators — sprang into action.

Pow! Wham! Another high-profile copyright fight broke out in Hollywood, and this one could be the broadest the industry has yet seen.

A Supersized Custody Battle Over Marvel Superheroes (New York Times)

. 
Forget about Twilight or that lame True Blood series, this is how vampire should be done! The insanely brilliant opening moments—featuring Bauhaus performing Bela Lugosi’s Dead—from Tony Scott’s 1983 film, The Hunger has lost none of its power over the years. The film stars Catherine Deneuve, David Bowie and Susan Sarandon and if you haven’t seen it, it’s a sexy, smart delight. The unlucky goth chick who is the recipient of Bowie’s vampiric intentions in this scene was played by none other than Dangerous Minds pal, singer/actress Ann Magnuson.

This is one of the great opening scenes of any movie ever made if you ask me. I actually saw this in a theater all by myself—or so I thought—and the effect was electrifying. I was 17 at the time and I’d just gotten massively baked in the parking lot. I walked in, sat down to THIS and just when things calmed down a bit onscreen, I was scared witless by an extremely elderly woman, who had been sleeping two rows in front of me, suddenly darting up and staring straight at me and wagging her finger in my face!
 

 
It seems like there’s a new documentary on Punk Rock all the time and they all tread fairly predictable paths. Still, this episode of the great BBC series Seven Ages of Rock, titled Blank Generation is one of the better ones I’ve seen. In six parts on YouTube.
 

 
Looking for the Chrome video posted below, unsurprisingly I was also shown various YouTube clips from Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange. Check out this trippy trailer for the film. Nice. Also, take a gander at the various posters for A Clockwork Orange at Posterati or look on Google images for book covers. I especially like some of the minimalist Eastern European posters and covers you can find out there. What a great project to be thrown if you’re a designer.
 

 

 
Bizarre paintings of cops by artist Jansson Stegner.
 
(via Booooooom!)