Trend! Nilhism
Okay, so it’s not super catchy and doesn’t seem to have any discernible dress codes (apart from wearing loads of black, but that’s a bit obvious really) but if you’re feeling a bit ‘Children of Men’ and can’t stop listening to Jarvis Cocker’s ‘Running the World’ then may I recommend a handful of other dark delights:
Jean-Luc Godard’s ‘Weekend’ [IMDb]
Prepare yourself for this one. Once you get past the scene with the car jam that seems to go on forever you’ve still got to contend with hippies killing pigs in the woods, car wreaks that turn into flocks of sheep and an old lady’s pet skinned sheep… eeww!
‘La Grande Bouffe’ [IMDb]
A bunch of Italian guys get together with a few prositutes to eat and shag themselves to death and that’s pretty much it. A bleaker concept for a film is hard to find and I found this hard enough to watch (I think I turned off half way through). Let me know how you fare with this one.
‘V for Vendetta’ [IMDb]
From Godard to the Wachowski Brothers. Yikes! Still this has to be Children of Men’s closest modern relative (if you can think of another let me know). It’s dystopian (well to start with anyway), set in Britain after the seeming collapse of the United States and the lead actress is bald… er, just kidding about the last one. Sorry.
Seeking Blurbarians
Welcome to the crazee world of self-publishing. I’m not talking blogging, or podcasts, fanzines or self-appreciating but ultimately vacuous quarterly fashion magazine ‘projects’. I’m talking real, proper hard cover books. Blurb [blurb.com] allows anyone to design and edit hardcover books themselves on any subject, online. You download a bit of software called BookSmart and away you go. I think I’m going to have to try this to see how it works, you get to chose you’re own fonts which makes me happy…
Lost Classics: CQ
Roman Coppola [www.romancoppolastudio.com] once made a film called CQ [iMDB]. If this is ‘ye olde ancient news’ to you then maybe skip onto the next post or something (you can leave a comment telling me what you thought of it first if you like, go on, you know you want to… maybe). It was back in 2001, although he started work on it a year before hand. I really liked it (but then my all-time favourite film is Modesty Blaise [iMDB]). It’s a typically quirky mixture of the clever and aware film making of the new wave era re-interpreted and the frothy, escapist fun of 60s Sci-Fi Pyschadelia (think Barbarella [iMDB], Danger: Diabolik [iMDB] and the aforementioned Modesty Blaise).
It also features the usual high quality Coppola siblings collaborations, this time with Graphic Artist Laurent Fetis [laurentfetis.com] who, not only supplied various marketing materials for the film, but also worked with Coppola Jr on the titles, on screen graphics and props used within the film/s themselves (the posters are a joy, here are a couple of them below). If you pick up the DVD you’ll also find documentary by Mom and Sis with loads of really cool featurettes and even a couple of ‘new wave’ style films about CQ.
Cornball Antics
More than just a tasty snack that pleases before you even open this packet… Caramel Corn [caracon.jp] has become the one of the latest sensations to rock the (Japanese) nation. It’s a spookily addictive concoction of puffed corn, sticky flavouring and random peanuts with the cutest packaging alive. Boicozine would personally like at least one Tohato [tohato.jp] snack bar opened per country.
He Did It With Mirrors
Tom Adams provided illustrations for the covers of over 60 Agatha Christie book jackets in the 60s and 70s. Always pushing his distinctive style into newly twisted forms, his covers were both elegant and deeply sinister; the perfect complement to the writer’s vision. If you stumble across a copy of the picturebook ‘The Art of Her Crimes’, it’s well worth grabbing (rare as hen’s teeth at the moment too, here’s hoping it’s re-released soon). The book features almost all the Agatha Christie covers Tom Adam’s completed plus an insight into his technique, most of the objects in his images were drawn from the actual objects. [tomadamsuncovered.co.uk] has a pretty decent collection of covers Tom Adams produced for numerous Agatha Christie releases.
Vents No Dummy
Looking for a chilling experience to bother your brain. Then Vent Haven is the place for you (the Museum not the event although both look equally as eerie). Two words: Ventriloquist Dummies… loads of them. Almost 700 of the fuckers at the last count. And you don’t have to go all the way to Kentucky to experience the icy chill of a room full of retired ‘vent figures’ just pop along to the Vent Haven Museum website. You can nominate the ‘Figure of the Month’, visit the convention website and make sure you don’t miss the ‘Tour Tape’ in the Multimedia section. It makes the whole thing worthwhile. Final Word before you scurry off to check it out (go on, you know you want to), appartently at night, in the dark, when all the visitors have left and the staff have gone home, you hear the sound of the dummie’s joints shifting and even the occasional mouth snapping shut… bbrrrrr! Visit the [venthavenmuseum.net] online for more information.
