Happy Birthday Eddie!
Eddie, by Gabe
September 1st: same day as :
Yvonne de Carlo, Rocky Marciano, Gloria Estefan, Barry Gibb…
Month: August 2005
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On eBay!
Set of six bootleg ML figures, hecho en Mexico.
Is that Rikochet’s Mama on the far left?
Musica etc.
As far as Mash-Ups go, I am thrilled to discover the M-1 website. Check out Sounds For the Sun-Set 2005 and more album downloads HERE.
“Bastard pop, mash-ups, cut’n'paste, plunderphonics, sound-collage, cut-ups, sampling, turntablism, bootlegs… By any name, it’s music that recycles the artifacts of our mass-media culture. It doesn’t have a “sound.” A rap vocal might be placed over some country music. Or, for that matter, a country vocal over a hip-hop backing track. Top 40 hits, presidential speeches, thrift-store records & TV newscasts get thrown in the sonic blender, and out comes art.
This is the first cultural movement of the internet age. Record companies are not needed. Post your songs on your own website or a file-sharing service, and connect directly with an audience. Can’t really make any money this way of course, but there’s no restrictions on your self-expression. Anyone can join.” – M-1
Cool album cover! Via Hippocampus.There are all kinds of car and scooter clubs in the US. Here’s one for people who own Hearses…
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Dead Leaves & Cat Soup
DEAD LEAVES
Lili: The violence in Dead Leaves is totally gratuitous. Non-stop action/chase/shooting/explosions/dick-drilling/blood-spurting mayhem. And although aesthetically clever and innovative in a ‘how far can we push it’ (or ‘how many explosions can you take’) kind of way, there were times the screen looked like a jagged mess of fast moving shapes and I had no idea wtf was going on. With the BGs and characters in the same flat and stark color palette/style and everything happening at breakneck speed, it was often hard to see what’s really going on. Or maybe this was the idea - We are supposed have our senses assaulted.
A tip from the Director: “Get drunk first. Lower your morals and think like a grade-school student.” Yeah, it’s that kind of anime.
From this excellent review (includes more stills):
“But as visually impressive as Dead Leaves is, there’s not much else inside. It’s a thrill ride that verges on becoming a migraine headache. Students or buffs of animation will probably want to study it in more detail than that, but for the rest of us, one go-round will suffice—if even that. What’s most disheartening about it, though, is the way it’s being praised as one of the Next Big Things in animation, as if total carnal overload were the only path left to the art form..”
Eddie: Take the extreme craziness of FLCL and magnify it 10 times over, and you have Dead Leaves. But unlike FLCL there’s no light and shade; this thing runs at 300mph with no brakes. It’s quite possibly Anime’s logical conclusion; it’s highpoint and lowpoint. There’s nowhere it can go after this. The animation is so fast, that it’s like watching a strobe – or looking at the Sun. Which you can only do for so long until your retinas become charred black holes. Maybe it was the primary color palette of the characters and backgrounds that gave me a migraine, but this DVD really should come with Tylenol. As I said to Lili, watch it once, then burn the DVD. Awesome, frustrating, headache-inducing, annoying…it seems like it was made by a bunch of frat boys with superhuman drawing skills.
CAT SOUP
Eddie: And now for something completely different! Cat Soup is a surreal, gentle-paced shortish (35 min) film which shows that not everything has to be a (literal) train wreck. A little Kitten is led away, and has its soul taken by Death. The kitten’s brother takes her on a journey through the afterlife to retrieve the soul. The imagery in this is stunning and sometimes disturbing. Based on the Manga, Nekojiru Udon, the director Tatsuo Sato has put his own personal imagery onto this to create something special. As different again from anything else out there…
Lili: What a beautiful and sad film. The BGs are stunning; the character animation is subtle and moving. The Director leaves much to our imaginations how we choose to interpret the imagery in Cat Soup… and by the end of the film, I had a bunch of unanswered (story-related) questions. Here’s an interesting Buddhist interpretation which ties everything together.
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Musica + Linkitos
Check it out – Eddiemuerte‘s Kiri no Tonbei is on two of our favorite music download websites!
- micromusic.net! (log in required) Review:“bleep & bass! this is a hot summer tune for micro-fullmoon parties”
- glubibulga – see April 2005 playlist
Meanwhile, you can listen to the latest Eddiemuerte track – Los Guerreros del Infierno HERE. This is for a future wrestling-themed compilation.
*Purchase Eddiemuerte’s new album HERE
WFMU’s On the Download - for some international/kooky music downloads
OurMedia.org - “FREE storage and free bandwidth for your videos, audio files, photos, text or software. Forever. No catches.”
Check out Ward Jenkins’ Flickr Photoset: The Airplane Book. A gorgeous compilation of images from a children’s book.
These are pretty cool, too. PapelContinuo‘s scans of a vintage card game.
Interview with Tim Yoon - Tim was Production Manager on ML
Urban Testing Ground video blog - Joel was our Producer/Showrunner on ML and his new blog is pretty cool. Includes video clips from the Nortec Collective concert on Thursday night (which was kickass), an underground breakdancing event, and interviews with artists/filmmakers.
Feel like some Bratwurst? - Lili
If you think Bahooka is kitsch, wait till you see Lowenbrau Keller on Beverly Blvd. I am tempted to organize a group dinner here…
This German/Bavarian restaurant is a trip. Decorated by a Hollywood set-decorator (or props dept person?), it’s like a Disneyland version of “Germanyland”. When you enter the large heavy wooden doors you step into an ostentatious room glowing with wrought-iron chandeliers. There are boar and deer heads mounted on carved walls, photos of Germany, gnome sculptures, rows and rows of steins, suits of armour, gothic pillars, golden cherubs and fake grapes.
I made the mistake of ordering the German sampler plate (should’ve gone for the simple Bratwurst) which consisted of salty pink ham-like meat and something that looked and tasted suspiciously like spam.
Needless to say, it’s one of those special restaurants you go to, not for the food, but for the beer and decor. Totally worth it!
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The New Flash
Via Aaron’s Cold Hard Flash blog – it appears that the new version of Flash (“8ball”) will be here in September! In the meantime, some previously-posted links:
Only in Hollywood
It’s A Wrap is a Burbank store that sells clothing worn by movie/TV stars. There are gowns, suits, casual wear, shoes and accessories from a huge range of TV shows. Each item of clothing is tagged with the show that it was worn in. And what’s more, this stuff is CHEAP. Eddie paid Twenty bucks for a 60′s mod suit as worn in the TV show American Dreams! (Tailored in Texas, no less! – Eddie) The downside is that most actresses have miniscule waistlines. All the cool dresses were Small or Extra Small…
Rocket Video on La Brea/Melrose is where Quentin Tarantino used to work, and presumably where Hollywood indie filmmakers plug their stuff. There is an amazingly HUGE selection of foreign DVDs and videos (categorized by country). We joined today and picked up Chop Socky – Cinema Hong Kong & Mod Fuck Explosion by Jon Moritsugu. The downside: All rentals are for one day only!
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Fwak! Update
We are busy moving ahead with our projects in development. Not wanting to jinx anything, sometimes we feel we should resist the temptation to reveal too much on this blog. Ah…what the hell… we’re excited!
Some (random) rough-sketch-panels from our revisited Guitar Wolf project. (A work-in-progress trailer/animatic)
Discussing thumbnails for a NEW Fwak! movie project…
Something else that I am also really really looking forward to, is animating on my brand new Ubercomputer (bigger, faster, more powerful + a larger monitor!). Here’s to learning 3D and rrripping DVDs…
say hello to DIETER
Lourdes Grobet: Luchadores
Lourdes Grobet’s amazing book has tons of stunning photos of Mexico’s favorite masked wrestlers at home and in the ring… Highly recommended for all lucha libre aficionados!
© Lourdes Grobet
Events & Links
August 19th – Oscar Winning Animation screening (oooh.. Ersatz; & Toot, Whistle Plunk & Boom!)
August 20th – Pontani Sisters at the Orpheum. We love these gals!
August 21st – Death Rides A Horse at The Egyptian. It’s not Leone, but it’s got Morricone. Starring Lee Van Cleef and John Phillip (Diabolik!) Law. Giddyup!
August 27th – Movies under the Stars: Fistful of Dollars
On blogging ‘secret studio projects’… (via seward street) and Blogging Depression (via eye of the goof)
Flipbook (via robot action boy)
BJ Winslow - horror props and more.
Astroboy Opening screengrabs (by Gabe)
I want a baby hedgehog. (via GGTH) More wacky/cute pics on this vet’s blog!
Currently watching: Teddy Boys, Mods, Skinheads & Northern Soul (via The Video Beat!)
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LUCHARAAAAAAAAAN!
A great source of Lucha Libre info is the CMLL Blog by The Cubs Fan. As well as all the latest news, TV showings and happenings, there’s a new resource page of every luchador and current champion, in the major federations in Mexico! Awesome!
Atlantis, the current NWA World Light Heawyweight Champion. Picture by Eddie Mort & Lili Chin
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Once Upon A Time In Italy…The Westerns Of Sergio Leone
This new exhibition at the Autry Center in Los Angeles is a must for all lovers of Cinema and Graphic Design. And music; there are listening posts where you can hear Ennio Morricone’s distinct soundtracks.
Great example of Graphic Design for this 45 record sleeve
A corner of the exhibition. There are numerous large screen projections showing excerpts from Leone’s films and influences
More album covers on display
Striking poster design from ‘Once Upon A Time In The West’. Bronson never looked better
Keith has an account of the members’ pre-exhibition party here
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