Christmas is Upon Us

Soda Can Tree from the Make Magazine blog (for Keith, who loves Mountain Dew, if not Christmas).

Movies You May Want to Miss - TROG (1970)

Tuckers gave me some lovely housewarming gifts when I moved (and recently visited us here--so good to see him). One of the gifts was TROG, Joan Crawford's last film (1970). And it's a doozy. I'm sort of amazed it was put out on DVD at all, but there it is, another perplexing object to add to our universe.

Joan Crawford is completely out of her mind as "world-renowned anthropologist," Dr. Brockton. Clad entirely in Easter-egg pastels, she argues the case for studying TROG, a murderous half-man/half-ape Troglodyte, discovered in a cave in the English moors. It's hard for me to muster any admiration for Joan Crawford who was always such a phoney-baloney actress, albeit one with weird charisma. As mannered as she could possibly be, she did pull off a certain melodramatic charm very well in her prime (and again, in her come-back, Mildred Pierce). Just look at her:


Nice and, Yikes! That same creepy glamor infuses TROG, if you like over-the-hill alcoholic acting. I do. But I felt a little sorry for her too. It can't be good to be demented and an egomaniac.
I don't recommend that you watch this, but here are some stills that caught my attention. Even within the worst cinematic garbage, I find some nice compositions. It's always a shocking little pleasure. And now:






















TROG trailer - more entertaining than the movie.



Classic glamor shot of Joan Crawford courtesy of The Best of Everything: A Joan Crawford Encyclopedia.

Let's not get too wholesome

I don't want you to think this blog is going all family-oriented or mellow or anything. So here's Madonna during her "grunge" phase. ARRGH! Middle age isn't pretty. Middle age in pop culture is downright scary. And middle age in pop culture, trying to learn the guitar, looks like this:

Art, it's what's happening

I'm always happy to feature new and emerging artists, so here's Ben (from Jackson's Oakland play group) posing with his found-object sculpture, "The Native Americans." Ben's work is a prize-winner in the Re-Create Show at the Museum of Children's Art (MOCHA) in Oakland. The exhibit is up until December 16th--check it out! It's all made from discarded materials--timely and really fun; an excellent outing for kids and their adults. Place and time: 472 Water Street Gallery, Friday, 3-5pm, Saturday/Sunday, 10am-2pm.

Way to go, Ben (and his mom, Michelle).

Waste Connections McNeilus Side-Loader Action

Here's Jackson's Halloween costume for 2007. Last year he was a front-loader. He's thinking he might be a pumpkin next year, or another front-loader. Either way, I'm screwed. No, I mean--hooray! Let's celebrate our creativity! Check out that hydraulic lifting action: cardboard, masking and camera tape, all working together to lift Snickers, Baby Ruth and Kit Kat Bars into the hopper--the heaviest candy out there.

Raise the Ranch!

There's an older suburb near my son's school and there you will find quite a few raised ranch houses. These are 50s/60s-era homes that have the stairs in the foyer. You walk up a flight to the living room when you enter the house. I love these houses. I can't say why. I think because they're obsolete and I love obsolete architecture. Also they were considered a bit "upscale" during their time, compared to the one-level ranch home, but now they're funky and clunky. I relate. Here's some photos of the neighborhood. I tried to find homes with very little updating or improvements. That's just the way I like it. (I'm having a camera issue regarding lack-of-focus lately. After 25 years, it might be time to take the old Canon AE-1 in for servicing).

 

 

 

 

 

Harvey Milk Finally Gets a Bio-pic

One of my favorite heroes, San Francisco Supervisor, Harvey Milk, will be featured in a new Gus Van Sant project, "Milk." The casting call in San Francisco drew 800 guys, trying out for the 70s-era film.
Harvey Milk: yes!
Gus Van Sant: Sounds good--yes!
800 guys in SF, dressed as 70s-era gay freedom fighters: Oh yes!
Sean Penn as Harvey Milk: Um, hmmm; not so sure about that.

Sean Penn is so self-serious at all times. I don't know--while the life of Harvey Milk ended tragically when he was assassinated by sociopathic SF supervisor Dan White, Harvey was a really funny guy. Sean Penn was really funny in "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" 25 years ago. I hope we get a little light-heartedness in the bio, that's all I'm saying.

Why was Harvey one of my favorite heroes? Well, because he's a modern historical figure. I remember when he was elected supervisor in 1977 and I very much remember when he was shot and killed along with Mayor George Moscone. This depressed me no end, even though I was only 14 at the time. I just couldn't believe someone could sneak into City Hall and kill two public figures so easily, and then get away with it with less than an 8-year sentence for "voluntary manslaughter." This happened around the same time as the Jonestown Massacre in Guyana, and these two events haunt me to this day. If you grew up in and around San Francisco then, you might know what I mean. This is some real senseless and horrific history, all broadcast on the 6 o'clock news for everyone to see.

Years later, I worked a bit with Rob Epstein (on a Sylvester bio-pic that never got off the ground), who directed "The Times of Harvey Milk," one of the best documentaries ever made, as far as I'm concerned; very moving portrait of the man and the time. Milk believed that if you're gay, you should live openly as gay. This was very brave stuff back then, and continues to be. He encouraged young people to come out and love themselves as they are, and that is why he is my hero and always will be. I hope Sean Penn can lose his constant pinch-face and do the man some justice. It's that tricky line between box-office success and historical integrity.

Photo of Harvey Milk from: Harvey Milk, Second Sight

Hello, it's me

I haven't been blogging because life took over for a couple of weeks. First of all, I took a short-story writing class and that kept me really busy. I learned more than I thought I would. Having read billions of short stories over the years, I thought I knew it all, but no, I never learned about the beginning, middle and end parts. I always wrote the beginning and sometimes the middle but rarely the end of my stories. And the ones I wrote many years ago were SUCKY! Say that like a theme song: SUCKY! Makes it more cheerful-sounding. So I wrote a short story. I'm still working on it, or at least I would be, but THEN after the class, I started painting Jackson's room.

Now, I know you're thinking, so you started painting your son's room. Well, that is true, but let me tell you about my son. He likes orange. He's particular about which shades of orange, of course, and orange is one of the harder colors of the spectrum to get right on the walls of a bedroom. So after many weeks of testing, we settled on two shades of orange: Mango Madness and Au Grautin. I'm an Au Grautin person myself. He's deeply in love with Mango Madness. That's fine. We worked out a compromise. Two walls of each and stripes on the other two. I've never painted stripes. It entails measuring, drawing straight lines and taping them down. It's not my thing. But I'm doing it and I'm applying my entire soul to the project to get those straight lines. It will either look like one of those design books: Fun-filled Kids' Rooms, or it will look like the inside of a cheeseball. I'm excited, either way

So anyway, big project. When it's done, my parents and relatives are all coming by for Thanksgiving Dinner at our house. See--life just gets more festive as you go along. Before you know it, it will be time for:

A Huge Nasty Smelly Mess

Look at this poor creature. Sherry took this shot yesterday near the Berkeley Marina. The title of this post are her words describing the San Francisco Bay after 58,0000 gallons of oil spilled into it when a cargo ship blammed into the Bay Bridge. The Bay is home to so many animals: sea lions, otters, and I don't know how many kinds of birds and fish. It's right alongside a whale migration route. Cripes.

Stranger Than...

Film still from Stranger Than Paradise, Jim Jarmusch's first feature. Though it came out in 1984, it officially ushered in the culture of "the 80s" for me; the deadpan irony, Screamin' Jay Hawkins' retro-cool sound, and the peculiar sensation that wherever you went in the U.S., it was all the same because that was your world-view, no matter how limited. More stills here from Nostalgia Party No. 2.

Sherry LaVars, girl photographer

My friend Sherry is a photo-journalist for the Contra Costa Times. She works for the AP sometimes too, like if some humpbacked whales happen to get lost in the Sacramento River (she's the one to call). She's got a big heart and I think it comes through in her portraits. There's connection there for sure. Sherry helped me move by coming over to our chaotic house a bunch of times and playing with bummed-out Jackson, bringing a truck-load of moving boxes (actual wardrobe boxes--she asked a guy on a moving truck if she could have them and he said, "sure!"), and adopting all my houseplants so I wouldn't have to throw them away. PLUS she made me laugh, and has done so for more than 20 years. Sher, you rock.
Sherry's caption: From a parade I shot in east county a while back in seering heat--hence the angels have water bottles.
My caption: When I see this photo, I miss the bay area. Guess I'll have to visit soon.
Sherry: I shot this at a senior center in Rodeo. It was totally fun because the people playing are so cool.
Sherry: From the beach in Alameda--looks like a bat.

Me again: This photo makes me officially sad now that a tanker has crashed into the Bay Bridge, spilling 58,000 gallons of oil into the bay. Beaches are closed, wildlife must be rescued. It's really depressing. Navigators of container ships: could you PLEASE not crash into large structures on your way to the Oakland Port? Is it too much to ask?

Show us how it's done, Lindsey Buckingham

What the hell--he's great.

Here's to you, Turtle Boy

Fame is fleeting but this suburban Portland boy was destined for momentary greatness. During the Great Depression, Hollywood soothed the masses with glamorous Busby Berkeley extravaganzas. In World War II, the entertainment industry kept the home-fires burning with patriotic film and song, assuring us that in the end, we would prevail. The Vietnam War era fostered an independent and angry cinema with few happy endings.

Today it doesn't take much to placate us during war time. At least until the next 17-second YouTube phenomena is posted. After two million hits and numerous parodies, perhaps it's time we all moved on. Or not. Thanks Turtle Boy--you're a surreal little zombie and there's nothing wrong with that.

Halloween is for Losers

OK, not really. I love Halloween. But I stopped dressing up and taking acid some time in my 20s. I'm keeping it for the kids and since my kid wants to be a garbage truck (again), all my costume-making energy goes into making his fantasy come true. He'll be a side loader this time around. It's getting tough to store all these garbage trucks around here. His dream is to one day own a home with a large enough garage to park his real garbage truck, which he will take on his morning route to pick me up so I can help out with the day's load-in. He will let me compact the garbage and his dad can ride along too if he wants. That's what Halloween is all about: fulfilling your fantasy life and getting way too much candy in the process.

I guess the Castro isn't even throwing a party this time around due to all the violence for the past few years. It's sad but there's always been a dark side to Halloween and I don't mean ghosts and witches. I mean people getting way too fucked up and beating up other people and waving guns around and forgetting where they parked their car and having to spend the night in your living room (and dressing like sexy Red Riding Hood--ew).

A lot of costumes are really lame for sure. Are you in a committed relationship? Demo that for the world to see on Halloween. Here's some great couple costumes for the next gathering of your peers.
Looking good Adam and Eve and Pimp and Ho.

Are you single and loving it? No? Girls, these costumes will catch you a man in no time. Maybe even a guy dressed as a pimp (see above). He will be happy to add you to his stable in these fine ensembles.


Hey, border patrol officers are sexy! Unless you're trying to cross a desert by foot after giving your life's savings to a sociopathic con artist who swore he'd get you to the U.S. in one piece so you could pound nails all day on a construction site if you're lucky. Then I doubt that authority figure will be featured too prominately in your sexual fantasies. Nuns are sexy, if you weren't raised Catholic, I suppose. I think if you were raised Catholic, nuns are the absolute opposite of sexy and will always remain simply scary, like a cop. Some people think cops are sexy, but not in a nun-like way. Oh, it's hard to explain. I just go round and round! Lady plumbers are really sexy until they hand you the bill; da-da-dum! Thank you--I'll be here all week. No, really, this lady plumber outfit is fi-i-ine. She's holding a pipe wrench. If you are not turned on by this there is something seriously WRONG with you. Seriously wrong.

RetroCrush features the worst Halloween costumes of all time; all 70s/80s; all store-bought. I was going to feature the Joanie Loves Chachi costume until I saw this:
If you never saw "Small Wonder" featuring V.I.C.I., monotone-speaking girl robot, considered by many critics as "the worst television show of all time" (and costume), then YOU'RE the loser--not me.

Anyway, happy halloween. I'll be maintaining my son's garbage truck costume and its hydraulic lifting system, standing by with a roll of masking tape and a camera. I hope you stay out of trouble and gets lots of candy.

Source: CityRag

70s Sci-Fi Memories

Ever seen Logan's Run? I was just thinking of renting it because it's been a while (1976--happy Bicentenial, America; enjoy the sci-fi gloom and doom). Michael York and a bunch of young attractive utopians live in a environmentally sealed dome where their every need and pleasure are provided by the government until they reach age 30. Then it's off to the floaty machine where they float, float, float to uh, Sanctuary.

Great pastel tunic-wear; A stone-faced Jenny Agutter as the female lead who gets led around by hand by Logan quite a bit; Set design like a garish discotheque and a memorable matte painting of the Lincoln Memorial by the great Matthew Yuricich. What? You never heard of Matthew Yuricich? Great, great visual effects matte painter. What? You never heard of movie matte painting?

There's a fine book (the only one that I know of) about matte painting by my former boss and friend Craig Barron. Really great stills of movies from the silent era to today. It tells the secret history of matte painters and their camera crews. So many films relied on these great landscapes and architectural wonders, painted on glass (created with actual paint and brushes!). Alfred Hitchcock was a aficionado of matte painting and counted heavily on these artistic tech-heads for many of the most famous scenes of his Hollywood films (that hopeful sunrise at the end of "The Birds"--matte painting; That cool spy-lair in "North by Northwest"--matte painting).

It's all done on computers now and not quite so magical a process (ever watch someone sit at a computer for several weeks at a time?--that's what it looks like). Check out Matte Painting: The Invisible Art.

More Logan's Run here.

Craft-tastic!

Ever wonder what to do with all those tiny plastic liners in your coke bottle caps? Sure you do. Why not hot glue them into a bowl? That's what this resourceful crafter did and as you can see, the results are awesome.

There's some kind of crazy craft resurgence going on. I used to make a lot of crafts with my mom in the 70s. She was very much into decoupage, the fancy French term for gluing paper onto objects, and she had all the special implements to do so, including Modge Podge (my collage glue of choice these days).

I remember a particular illustration of Don Quixote and Sancho Panzo on their steeds as tall, thin shadow figures posed against a dark mustard background. My mom filed down the edges of a big piece of wood to give it some indents all around, then stained it really dark brown, almost black. Then, once the giant image was glued on straight (a tension-filled process) she had herself some home-made Spanish Colonial wall decor to add to our Spanish Colonial living room. We were the only house in Concord, Calif. to have one of those (that I know of). At least it seemed that way because whenever people came over they always looked around and said, "Whoa, what's going on here?"

The couch was nearly 7 feet long and its fabric was covered in bright red and rust-red roses, giving it a cozy blood-cell feel. There were two wooden chairs that would have fit in at the Alhambra de Granada. The coffee tables were that almost-black stained wood with black wrought iron trim (still available in the garage, if I want them). Rembrandt's "Man with Golden Helmet" (a fake!) stared down at us while we sat on the couch. His daunting portrait was surrounded by bejeweled swords and giant gilt keys mounted on goldenrod velvet-upholstered plaques, studded all around with decorative tacks.

I'm not mocking my old living room. I LOVED that room. I fully expected the Spanish Inquisition to arrive at any moment and start chasing us down the hallway, yelling, "Heretics! Give us names and we may let you live!" The Spanish Inquisition had a torture policy very similar to our current government. Not to make light of the Spanish Inquisition, who were responsible for god-knows-how-many horrifying deaths, but my childhood fantasy world went something like this Monty Python sketch, as described in Wikipedia:

In the Monty Python comedy team's Spanish Inquisition sketch, the Inquisition repeatedly burst unexpectedly into scenes after someone utters the words "I didn't expect the Spanish Inquisition", screaming "Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!" The Inquisition would then use forms of "torture" like a dish-drying rack, soft cushions, and the comfy chair.

And that's where crafting can lead you. Here are some craft links I found today. Happy crafting!
Extreme Craft
MAKE blog
ReadyMade blog
Craftzine.com blog

Decoupage THIS

source: zakka life