Sex, Nazis, and classical music: Ken Russell’s ‘Lisztomania’
Scene: Opening titles. A group of sunny So-Cal cheerleaders kick and shake: “Give it an L. Give it an I. Give an S. Give it…
Amusing
Enter the bizarre world of Vader Abraham, lover of Smurfs and Weepuls
If you owned a desktop PC in the nineties, then you must remember weepuls. Your friend’s mom might have even had one on the dash…
The ‘Confessions’ of Karl Marx (or these are a few of his favorite things)
Karl Marx always looked like he had birds nesting in his beard or maybe a smorgasbord of food debris clogging up his grizzled follicles from…
Cheech & Chong’s classic ‘Basketball Jones’ cartoon
“That basketball was like…a basketball to me” –Basketball Jones “Basketball Jones” was a song/routine/character from Cheech & Chong’s 1973 Los Cochinos (“The Pigs”) record. The…
Battle of the Bulge: Classic rock stars and their packages
Marc Bolan dressed to the left. Sometime in the 1970s, an intrepid BBC reporter posited the question What is it about today’s pop stars that…
Don’t Watch Alone: The ‘Don’ts’ rather than the ‘Do’s’ of Movie Posters
‘Don’t Look in the Basement‘ (1973). These movies have a clue in their title. You could say the whole fucking plot’s in the title. Don’t…
Rebel Without Applause: That time Sir John Gielgud got busted for cruising
Being invested with a knighthood can have its advantages. The media will take a knight more seriously and give credence to their pronouncements no matter…
Donald Sutherland as ‘a sperm-filled waxwork with the eyes of a masturbator’ in Fellini’s ‘Casanova’
For a man as superstitious as Federico Fellini the omens of 1973 were not good. Too many friends were ill or dying; his private life…
That time Marty Feldman almost had his portrait painted by Francis Bacon
When Marty Feldman met Francis Bacon drink was involved. Before he became internationally famous for his performance as Igor in Young Frankenstein, Marty Feldman was…
Insanely good a cappella renditions of Negativland, Residents, and Captain Beefheart songs
The 180 Gs’ ‘Commercial Album‘ When Negativland’s DVD Our Favorite Things appeared a dozen years ago, it came with a bonus CD called 180 d’Gs…