Boogie Fever - I Think It's Going Around

Earth, Wind & Fire with The Emotions - Boogie Wonderland, 1979.



A Taste of Honey - Boogie Oogie Oogie, 1978. Listen to Janice Marie Johnson's bass. Hazel Payne on lead guitar.



The Sylvers - Boogie Fever, 1975.



Heatwave - Boogie Nights, 1977.

M.I.A. and Santigold - Genre Busters

I love how these beautifully eccentric women are bringing back the 80s--the good parts: dub, old school hip hop, Bollywood disco, new wave, punk. Note: Santigold was formerly known as Santogold, which recently caused all kinds of typographical confusion around here.

M.I.A. - Paper Planes

M.I.A. - Paper Planes
Uploaded by UniversalMusicGroup. - Explore more music videos.

Santigold - Lights Out

Santogold - Lights Out
Uploaded by robertandco. - See the latest featured music videos.

M.I.A. - Jimmy


Santigold, Julian Casablancas, and N.E.R.D. - My Drive Thru (for Converse)


M.I.A. - Galang

M.I.A. Galang
Uploaded by avajra. - Explore more music videos.

Santigold - L.E.S. Artistes


- Santigold interview
- M.I.A. interview

Givin' the GOP a helpin' hand

The Republican campaign is hurting--hurting bad! Putting my marketing skills to the task (and currently unemployed while doing so), I've risen to the challenge of re-branding the two-headed McPalin monster. Otherwise, it's just not a fair fight out there.

I was thinkin', Sarah Palin's got star power, but she's coming across as, well, kind of like a nutso. She needs a little more of a positive spin on her.

Exhibit A: Sarah Palin Motivational Poster for your cubicle (if you haven't already been downsized!).


She admits she's kinda new at this. What a wonderful opportunity to humanize her. Lest we forget--she is some kind of human.

Exhibit B: The life-sized Sarah Palin wall sticker. That'll make it hard to ignore her stance on...stuff...and...things.


The Sarah Palin winky doll. What could be more refreshin'?


Hey! Don't leave out McCain! WHO? Oh, you sillies. He needs a little attention too!


Oops--how did this get here? Must be a slip in the HTML code. Pay no attention...

Willem Dafoe as Raven Shaddock in "Streets of Fire" 1984

This Halloween, why not go as a true movie villain--Raven Shaddock, as played by Willem Dafoe? Reptilian, violent, and REALLY creepy--if you can find some high-waisted leather pants with extra-wide suspenders, grab a pot of hair gel and your look is complete. The rest is all in your demented facial expressions.

"Streets of Fire," came on the heels of Walter Hill's mega-successful "48 Hours" and had a big fat budget and high production values, but it tanked, mainly because it's so stupid. Critics almost unanimously hated this film. Its weird blend of rock opera, biker-gang action, witless tough-guy dialogue, and over-saturated neon glow, never found its loving-the-50s-while-living-in-the-80s audience. But people have adored the bombastic soundtrack over the years (and the hit single I Can Dream About You), so it's become a cult film. And a lot of new-wave butt gets kicked, if you like that sort of thing.

I found the violence, especially done to poor kidnapped, dragged-around Diane Lane, disturbing and unnecessary (especially in the romantic pairing of her and Rick Moranis--the humanity). It's not at all fun like the balletic choreography of Hill's earlier cult film, "The Warriors." Michael Paré looks good while kicking the shit out of everyone with his big gun, but the script-writers forgot to give his loner persona an actual personality. Amy Madigan butches it up as the sidekick, "McCoy" (watch her swagger!) but even her brittle presence can't make sense of the goings on. I also remember the poster to this film was really stupid and made me vow never to watch it.

But I've relaxed that rule, seeing it on DVD over the course of two nights to spread out the insanity. I still kind of hated myself for doing it, but I admit, the Ry Cooder incidental music has a nice rootsy appeal. Here's a Raven Shaddock visual guide.

This is your standard evil glare.
But can you do this?
And then broaden your scope with maniacal grinning?
A costume template. Pleather will work just fine.
More posturing.
A good demonic look. Practice in the mirror daily.Being a supreme asshole is painful at times.
Leave this one to the professionals.
Work on your body language and you're set!


Trailer


The making of


Stupid poster

This Halloween, Don't be a Tool

October 31st is coming and the Halloween costume supply market is cranking out the big guns--trying to convince you to BUY a costume. You don't have to BUY anything for Halloween, except maybe some candy and a big pumpkin for carving (if you're craving a gucky, perishable craft project). That's the beauty of Halloween. It's the holiday of YOUR IMAGINATION... (cue twittering birds, calliope music and sparkle graphics).


You don't have to go as a sexy Spongebob Squarepants. Even this model looks embarassed by the very concept. Is it me, or is the world getting tired of these sexy costumes? Sexy Alice in Wonderland; sexy letter carrier; sexy gothic punk-rock vampire fairy bat. OK! OK! We GET IT! You're sexy on Halloween. Now go find the guy dressed as "party in his pants" and leave us alone!











And hey guy--you don't have to buy the "party in your pants" costume. Just make a party in your own pants (or better yet--don't).












This adult taco costume costs $69.99. Think of the bags of groceries this could buy. Think of the hundreds of ACTUAL tacos it could buy. You could buy 700 tacos and throw a party. Dress up as the taco-serving guy. You will get more action--I promise you.












No. Just--no.

I said NO!

The BEST of Sarah Palin CD

Offer good 'til November 4th.

Sarah Palin's Greatest Hits.
23/6 Sarah Palin Video Library.
Givin' the GOP a helpin' hand.

Keep Your Sunny Side Up - "Paper Moon" 1973

Hey America--don't let the big guys take it all from you. Demand your $200, like Tatum O'Neal in Peter Bogdanovich's excellent Depression-era comedy, "Paper Moon."


My friend Pam and I snuck into this film in the multiplex after rejecting her mom's movie choice ("The Sting"--not the best film for a 9-year-old and an 11-year-old). Tatum O'Neal's performance was a revelation. We were two tomboy girls who couldn't believe how cool she was and how believably she got the upper hand over the adults by being more intelligent and crafty. She made overalls look good--she was a star. Madeline Kahn was, as always, icing on the cake.

We were lucky to have seen this at such a young age since it's an entirely adult film with more adult themes than had ever been explored through the eyes of a child actress. Implied were (spoilers): that Addie Loggins' ma was a prostitute; that Trixie Delight was also a prostitute; that Moses Pray was probably Addie's father and definitely an unrepentant conman; and that Addie was a better con than he. Throughout, was the theme of "hard times" that drove everyone to such amoral behavior, fitting for the 70s when the economy was in the toilet and the inflation rate was ever-growing.

"Paper Moon" is also one of the best-made films of the 70s. It was very brave (and sometimes harrowing) for Bogdanovich to film such long takes with a child actress in her first role. How Tatum was able to say her hundreds of lines without a single "cut" in the scene was a testament to directorial patience that has probably never been matched since. Black-and-white cinematography was not the norm in '73 and it gives the film an "olden" quality without the censorship that dogged old films. The modern themes in a period piece make for a surreal, powerful viewing experience (similar to Bogdanovich's "The Last Picture Show"). The deep-focus flatness of the Midwestern States and its lonely two-lane highways, shot by the late Laszlo Kovacs, emphasizes "the ongoing journey" in this road film. And the tension and frustration between father/daughter Ryan and Tatum O'Neal, is never false in scope.

Awww, Madeline Kahn as Trixie Delight - Pam and I LOVED this scene and often encouraged each other as we were growing up with the adage, "You're gonna get some BONE structah. It took me YEARS to get some bone structah..."


- Tatum O'Neal wins best supporting actress for "Paper Moon" in a custom-made tux, forever cementing my awe of her.

- Tatum and her brother Griffin were terribly abused and neglected growing up. You can read about it in her depressing autobiography, A Paper Life. Despite her drug arrest this year, she is a survivor. Bonne chance, Tatum!

Someday when I can afford it, I'll buy one of those MP3 conversion turntables so I can upload my long-out-of-print and never-released-on-CD "Paper Moon" soundtrack on the Internets.

Update: The soundtrack can be downloaded Dartman's World of Wonder. Thanks for the link, Sean!

Albert Brooks Asks for a Bailout

Retired (or fired, depending on how you look at it) advertising exec Albert Brooks attempts to get his nest-egg back from a casino in my favorite comedy, "Lost in America."



Dark picture, like the economic crisis we're facing right now! So timely for 1985.

What to watch when you have the flu

Mike Long dances to The Only Ones' Another Girl, Another Planet in Hamilton, Ontario. Go Canadian guy, go!

Another Girl, Another Planet from Mike Long on Vimeo.

Mike Long made a dance video a day for a year. I don't know if any of them were made while he had a flu. If so, that would be a very dull video.

- Dance like Mike Long.
- MySpace.

The Sexiest Couple in Hollywood History

My reliable source tells me that Paul Newman was a fine, upstanding man, but we knew that already by his actions over the years. What a giver.

Also:



YUM.



Paul Newman's Hole in the Wall Camp.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains" 1981

Here it is, the DVD you've been waiting for, all spoiled up here. After being shelved upon its release and only showing up on late-night cable TV and a few festivals, ...The Fabulous Stains has arisen. Lou Adler's second film after Cheech & Chong's Up in Smoke is about what you'd expect from a guy who left the music industry to direct Cheech & Chong's Up in Smoke. It's a bad film but it has lots of good little moments throughout.

Marketed as a satire, it plays most of its scenes straight and doesn't seem to know what it's satirizing. Punk rock? The meaning behind pop music? Feminism? Media-fueled youth marketing? It's all there and I still haven't a clue what the film is saying about any of these ongoing topics.

The duct tape on the microphone stand is a nice touch though. It's the kind of detail that make the film cult-y and watchable. The grime, exhaustion, youth and inexperience of its rock & roll road-trip, all come through—in the backstage dressing rooms that look smelly; the bad hair, and clangy guitar sounds. The shots of the bands facing their adoring and hostile audiences get it right.

Directing live music on film that feels like a spontaneous moment in time is almost impossible, but this film manages it, which could be what people respond to when they see it for the first time. What does it feel like to be in a punk band? A lot like this, and you probably need a shower too.

Plus you get 15-year-old pissed-off Diane Lane and her 13-year-old cousin Laura Dern, escaping their shithole Pennsylvania town by turning themselves into pre-riot-grrl stars. So what if they have no talent or originality and they dress like street-walkers on angel dust? I found the film most disappointing in its exploitative use of young girls in see-through tops (what Diane Lane calls in her entertaining DVD commentary with Laura Dern, "Titty power!"), underpants, fish-nets and heels—and its many close-ups of teen-age crotch on stage. That was and remains icky.

Saving the enterprise is Diane Lane, whose intelligence, instincts, and dignified presence shine through, as always. She's such an underrated actress. Had she been working in the 1940s she would have been the best film noir anti-heroine of all. See her in Hollywoodland to get an idea of her range. I don't care how many Richard Gere films she feels compelled to do—I'm glad to see her making a comeback all these years later. And now:




















Fun facts:

The British punk band that tours with the Stains are played by Paul Cook and Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols, the haunting eyes of Clash bassist Paul Simonon (sigh), and former boxer turned actor, Ray Winstone, singing for the first time (and punching half the cast out). Diane Lane says in her commentary, "These guys were TIGHT!" which cracks me up, but she's right. Their two songs are power punk on rocket fuel, wearing lots of hair gel and big wool coats. Realistic dialogue: Steve Jones says, "wanker," "tosser," and "bollocks."

Fee Waybill, lead singer of The Tubes, parodies himself in stoner fashion and was really disappointed when this didn't result in his big acting break. Welcome to Hollywood.

Screenwriter Nancy Dowd (Slap Shot, Coming Home) left the project and took her name off the finished film after experiencing sexual harassment by the crew. Not much female empowerment happened on-screen as well.

Courtney Love claimed to have found inspiration in this film—about a girl with more bravado than talent, who dresses like a (kinder)whore and steals her best song from a male rock group. I will say no more.

Trailer



Reviews:
- L.A. Times
- The A.V. Club.
- Brianorndorf's Stains article features the short documentary by the late Sara Jacobson, The Making of Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains. Jacobson was working on a screenplay about an all-girl rock band but it remains unfinished as far as I know.

Save the Economy: Go to the Mall

My parents were in town this week and it rained on the day we promised Jackson we'd take him miniature golfing. Luckily, the Vancouver Mall (otherwise known as Westfield, whose Web site makes the sassy claim: It's so you), has Glow Golf. This is an indoor miniature golf course, completely painted black with a day-glow under-the-sea motif. You have over 50 holes to golf, all with starfish, palm tree, volcanic rock, and mole-hill obstacles. There's even a psychedelic multi-colored windmill, though that's not very oceanic.

It looks like this (I'm borrowing these photos from another local blog because I didn't have the presence of mind to take my own photos--sorry, glow-golf is a little mind-blowing).


I know all parents think the world of their children but I'm not exaggerating when I say that Jackson is a miniature golf prodigy. He barely aims as he sets up his ball, yet it goes near or in the hole almost every time. He nearly beat his dad (who aims, extensively). Jackson has homing-pigeon instincts when it comes to glow-golf. I am very proud.

Because our economy is so in the toilet and it appears that our country, a former super-power, may I remind you, is about to go bankrupt, I thought I'd pitch in and put my Google AdSense cash back into the stream of currency that ebbs and flows all around us. What better place to do this than the mall? This blog is not earning money on any grand scale. In fact, if this blog were to be represented by a pop-culture icon, this McDonald's Happy Meal toy as spotted in the food court would do the job nicely:
I am a munchkin in the world of wizards (and witches). But if the digital bytes fail to, uh, byte, we're all going down. My 10,000+ hits (OK, some of them were by ME, I admit) and $12.96 in AdSense revenue is just as good as Perez Hilton's 10 gazillion hits and god knows how much ad loot. He's just going to spend it all on ugly, ill-fitting clothes, mark my words.

I, on the other hand, have more refined tastes. But not much money, so what can be bought with $12.96? Let's look through the lens of my camera-phone and find out! Note: my camera-phone is pretty good at taking photos--for a camera-phone. More and more, my instant photos remind me of pinhole-camera prints. That would make it a digital pinhole camera--the mind reels! But that IS the look. And it's SO me.

C'mon, let's ride to the mall! I'm buying! Fifty cents a ride.
No, we cannot afford to buy the toddler Vans. They're $25. Hipster baby-wear is always an oddity to me. There's nothing less hip than a baby. I mean that in a good way.
How about some satanic Halloween accoutrements? I'm sure there's something plastic and imported in here under $6.
How about a colorful, cheap wig? Wigs make life more fun, until the itching starts. Even a cheap wig is probably more than we want to spend. We're just wig window-shopping... Hello Evil Kitty!
Do you need a Lego representation of a murderous, sociopathic, movie-marketing toy? McDonald's has your back. $1.99.
I don't want these, but aren't they a strange phenomena? Big purses that look like little-girl purses. Seems like the cross-over between the sexing up of little girl clothes and the childing down of adult clothes makes for weird, unnatural marketing messages.
These are so serene, especially when you plug them in and flick the "on" switch. Undulating waves of light imitate the movement of garish water. If I owned a bar, I would line these up on one wall instead of having a TV. Then my patrons could drink, watch and meditate on all that is natural and artificial in our world.
The Vancouver Mall has a carousel, hiding in a darkened corner. It's a nice ride with a train ride behind it and lots of horse sculptures on display. You can have a dark little birthday party in there, kind of like being inside the world's largest basement rec room. $1.75 per ride.
My camera was struggling in the low light (and I'm too lazy to read the jumbo manual and figure out how to adjust for that). Here's some display animals for your scenic train ride.
An attempt to capture movement. WHOA! Not successful, but kind of arty, for a mall.
So what'd we spend? Did we make under $12.96? I think so. Unfortunately Google won't mail my check until I make $100, so we've got another year or so to actually buy anything. I'm sure the government bail-out will be under way by then and we can all rest easy, knowing our government is taking care of everything.

I'm going to have insomnia tonight--I can tell.

Things are looking up. The Bedazzler™ is back!