Tuesday, June 21, 2011

If there's a disco in hell, this will be playing there... Good God, what a bass line.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8x9KunO7OsY&feature=related

Part one in a continuing series of miscellaneous things that I like (One of the best parts of blogs, in my opinion)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4P-WQLon90

More pearls of wisdom from the estimable Mr. C.

"The strength of the middle class is that it's like a huge amoeba. It can absorb anything that seems radical & threatening to it. The way it defends itself is not to put a shell around it that can be cracked or broken, but just to absorb whatever it is & assimilate it." -David Cronenberg

A commitment to social irresponsibility

"As an artist, one is not a citizen of society. An artist is bound to explore every aspect of human experience, the darkest corners-not necessarily-but if that is where one is led, that's where one must go. You cannot worry about what your own particular segment of society considers bad behavior, good behavior, good exploration, bad exploration. So, at the time you're being an artist, you're not a citizen, you don't have the social responsibility of a citizen. You have, in fact, no social responsibility whatsoever."

-David Cronenberg

Sunday, June 5, 2011

"Amore è non dover mai dire che sei brutto": The long-LONG-overdue Robert Fuest biography

The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971) is one of my favorite films (for what that's worth), so the news of a book on its director, Robert Fuest, filled me with glee. Fuest told me how delighted he was by it, and I can see why. Though I've been collecting Phibes-abilia for eons, there are still several excellent behind-the-scenes shots from it and Fuest's other films that are entirely new to me. My Italian is multo lousy, so I can't comment on the text-- it looks very solid, though. Visually, the book is essential reading for Fuest aficionados, covering every aspect of his career-- as director, production designer, and, most recently, fine artist. Fuest's marvelously unique and mordant films are finally being given their due. (I wish that someone would dig up a bunch of behind-the-scenes shots from Fuest's The Final Programme... Does anyone know where I can find the still of Jon Finch in his Jerry Cornelius foppery talking with Michael Moorcock on the set, with the latter's outstanding tattoo, a mushroom cloud over his heart, very apparent?)

Animafest intro by the great Zdenko Gasparovic


I can't come up with enough superlatives to describe Zdenko Gasparovic's animation. He is the Mozart of cartoons. Here is a short, sublime intro. that he created for the 1980 Animafest in his native Zagreb, Croatia (formerly Yugoslavia). I will definitely be referring back to him at great length later.

R. B. Kitaj's "A Woman of the People"

Jesus Christ, was Kitaj's draftsmanship good!