Richard Ayoade film The Boxtrolls

The fabulous Richard Ayoade who has been involved in many things that bring me joy and wonder (The IT Crowd, Garth Marenghi's Darkplace, Submarine, The Mighty Boosh) has directed a new film The Boxtrolls. Check out a teaser clip of this fantastic looking artistic film. This is the second full length film directed by Ayoade, a follow up to the coming of age tale Submarine adapted from the book by Joe Dunthorne. The Boxtrolls is based on the children's novel Here Be Monsters by Alan Snow. The time and craft invested in The Boxtrolls is staggering. It looks simply amazing. Boxtrolls opens September 26, 2014c

Rooftop Films Opening Weekend

THIS IS WHAT WE MEAN BY SHORT FILMS Date: Friday, May 16 Venue: Industry City, 39th Street and First Avenue, Sunset Park, Brooklyn Directions: Take the D, N, or R trains to 36th Street Tickets: $13 8:00PM: Doors Open 8:30PM: Live Music 9:00PM: Films Begin 11:30PM: After party celebration with DJs and dancing The Rooftop Films Summer Series is nothing if not wild, and this selection of dynamic short films encapsulates the adventurous spirit of the organization. This is a short film program that will inspire you to pump iron, smack your friends’ butts, launch yourself into space, question the concepts of time and life, and then go home to share an egg sandwich and recharge. Sounds fun? It will be. Bunda Pandeiro (Carlo Sampietro | 3’) In Brazilian slang, the phrase “Bunda Pandeiro” is used to describe attractive buttocks by referring to them as a tambourine. This film blurs lines between gender and race, reducing each participant to the utilitarian role of a musical instrument. Filmmaker in Attendance. Rhino Full Throttle (Nashom im Galopp) (Erik Schmitt | 15’) A young man uses art to reshape the city around him in search of its soul, but a beautiful tourist overtakes his mission in this imaginative love story. Symphony No. 42 (Réka Busci | 10’) 47 observations in the irrational connections between human and nature. An Extraordinary Person (Quelqu'un d'Extraordinaire) (Monia Chokri | 28’) A 30-year-old scholar, intelligent and beautiful yet socially crippled, is forced to attend a bachelorette party where her quest for authenticity leads to an unavoidable confrontation with old acquaintances. Winner of SXSW Jury Prize. Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared II: Time (Becky Sloan, Joe Pelling | 4’) Rooftop Alumnus Eventually everyone runs out of time – but before that happens to you, make some time to go on a journey, a journey through directorial duo Becky & Joe’s existentialist universe of temporal confusion, TV guides and bathtime. Afronauts (Frances Bodomo | 13’) Rooftop Alumnus It's July 16, 1969: America is preparing to launch Apollo 11. Thousands of miles away, the Zambia Space Academy hopes to beat America to the moon in this film inspired by true events. Filmmaker in Attendance. Master Muscles (Efren Hernandez | 13’) Veronika and Efren take a trip. Filmmaker in Attendance. Person To Person (Dustin Guy Dega | 18’) Rooftop Alumnus Waking up the morning after hosting a party, a man discovers a stranger passed out on his floor. He spends the rest of the day trying to convince her to leave. For more information visit: OBVIOUS CHILD Date: Saturday, May 17 Venue: Industry City, 39th Street and First Avenue, Sunset Park, Brooklyn Directions: Take the D, N, or R trains to 36th Street Tickets: $13 8:00PM: Doors Open 8:30PM: Live Music 9:00PM: Films Begin 10:30PM: Q&A with filmmaker Gillian Robespierre 11:30PM: After party celebration Brooklyn comedian Donna Stern gets dumped, fired, and pregnant just in time for the best/worst Valentine's Day of her life in this film festival favorite. Courtesy of A24 Films. Winner of the Rooftop Films Eastern Effects Equipment Grant. Rooftop Films is a non-profit organization whose mission is to engage and inspire the diverse communities of New York City by showcasing the work of emerging filmmakers and musicians. In addition to their annual Summer Series – which takes place in unique outdoor venues every weekend throughout the summer – Rooftop provides grants to filmmakers, teaches media literacy and filmmaking to young people, rents equipment at low-cost to artists and non-profits, and produces new independent films. At Rooftop Films, we bring underground movies outdoors. For more information and updates please visit their website at www.rooftopfilms.com.

Ben

"Ben" was written by Don Black and composed by Walter Scharf as a theme for the film Ben, the sequel to Willard. Originally offered to Donny Osmond, Ben became an early hit for Michael Jackson. You have to love a ballad about a killer rat. The song was also performed by actor, director, slide show presenter (and Raconteur) Crispin Hellion Glover for the remake of the film Willard. The following video is included on the DVD as an extra. This is not the first foray into vocals for Crispin Glover who recorded an album The Big Problem ≠ The Solution. The Solution = Let It Be. His unique cover of the Nancy Sinatra hit These Boots Were Made For Walking must be heard to be believed. A friend and I had a fifteen minute (or more) conversation with him a few years ago about racism, Todd Browning, Klaus Kinski and a myriad of things. We also compared his first full length directorial work to Even Dwarfs Started Small (Werner Herzog), which was subsequently paired with Glover's What Is It at one of his later performances. I found him to be intelligent congenial and perfectly normal, but then I'm a weirdo.

Victorian Era Phenakistoscope Art

Victorian Era Phenakistoscope Art Used in the Video For "The Hope Of A Favourable Outcome" by Carly Paradis from her debut album Hearts To Symphony. The video was directed by The Brothers Lynch and composed entirely of Victorian phenakistoscopes.

The Hope Of A Favourable Outcome by Carly Paradis from The Brothers Lynch on Vimeo.

Or if you hate Vimeo and prefer youtube:

One of the Most Awesome Videos Ever Vol 1

The Gap Band "You Dropped a Bomb on Me" sounds like a roller rink smells. Who would have been such an early fashion vanguard as to combine sequins and camouflage? The motherfucking Gap Band, that's who. But is it superior to this video? I have my own favorite. It's a beatdown video match folks. Check out Klymaxx "Meeting In the Ladies Room." Has this been the "Lip Synch For Your Life" on RuPaul's Drag Race yet? If not - why not? I'm much much unhappy about that. If they don't do it soon it's gonna get scandalous. I think this may be an unfair fight seeing as one goes solo and the other has a pop locker with a mullet. And he's on an exercise machine. And he never actually stands up to dance. Does that trump all? Forever?

The Philosophy of Shonen Knife

Often in times of need I find myself turning to the wisdom of Shonen Knife. Now is no different. When you feel down, I recommend to you Have lots of fruits and vegetables When you feel sad, I recommend to you Have lots of fruits and vegetables Nice fresh fruits and vegetables, Make you feel so free I'm talking about my own life, I love to feel free too When you feel lonely, I recommend to you Have lots of fruits and vegetables When you feel like crying, I recommend to you Have lots of fruits and vegetables When you feel down, I recommend to you Have lots of fruits and vegetables When you feel sad, I recommend to you Have lots of fruits and vegetables Nice fresh fruits and vegetables, Make you feel so free I'm talking about my own life, I love to feel free too Vitamins, minerals, energy and more Let's eat fruits and vegetables Orange, apple, banana, grape, cherry, melon Avocado, carrot, radish Nice fresh fruits and vegetables, Make you feel so free I'm talking about my own life, By the way, I eat chicken, too Na, Na, Na, Na.... Na, Na, Na, Na.... Na, Na, Na, Na.... Na, Na, Na, Na.... Na, Na, Na, Na.... Na, Na, Na, Na.... Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Na.... Na, Na, Na, Na.... Na, Na, Na, Na.... Na, Na, Na, Na.... Na, Na, Na, Na.... Na, Na, Na, Na.... Na, Na, Na, Na.... Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Na.

Vincent Van Gogh

One youtube clip worth watching at least once if you can drag yourself away from cat videos and crotch shots. This song or even just reading the lyrics to Don McClean's "Vincent" always makes me cry. The paintings always inspire me to send my mind to a myriad of places. Source: Oxford University Press Dutch painter. His life and work are legendary in the history of 19th- and 20th-century art. In the popular view, van Gogh has become the prototype of the misunderstood, tormented artist, who sold only one work in his lifetime—but whose Irises (sold New York, Sotheby’s, 11 Nov 1987) achieved a record auction sale price of £49 million. Romantic clichés suggest that van Gogh paid with insanity for his genius, which was understood only by his supportive brother Theo (1857–91). Van Gogh was active as an artist for only ten years, during which time he produced some 1000 watercolours, drawings and sketches and about 1250 paintings ranging from a dark, Realist style to an intense, expressionistic one. Almost more than on his oeuvre, his fame has been based on the extensive, diary-like correspondence he maintained, in particular with his brother.

Finding Vivian Maier

Finding Vivian Maier in theaters March 28, 2014. Available on Video On Demand March 31. This acclaimed documentary is directed by John Maloof and Charlie Siskel. It is the story of the late Vivian Maier, a nanny who had a secret stash of 100,000 photographs. She is considered one the most accomplished street photographers. This film earned the Grand Jury Prize in the Miami Film Festival 2014 and features former talk show host Phil Donahue. It looks like a must see for fans of documentaries about quirky characters. And why wouldn't everyone be a fan of that?

Kaye Telle's Random Daily Thoughts

Thinking about more goofiness by 8am than most people do all day. Some days a thrift store fabric chicken has to be enough to get one out of bed. I need to stop being such a gloomy Gus - put on my cha cha heels & just get on with it. Maybe a Fez. Uncertain of attire at this juncture. Still, I'll thank you not to tell me about omelettes. In semi recent retro ramblings, it occurs to me the only thing Har Mar Superstar was missing was a Cameo codpiece. Word up. "This is the police. Come out with your hands up and codpiece on". Also re: assless chaps. Aren't all chaps assless? Does LeVar Burton know? Is this a matter for the Village People? I initially meant to write about Criterion Collection issuing pencil art of Bill Murray, the Coens, and more by Agata Marszalek but in another of my life's moments of synchronicity I saw a wonderful picture not ten minutes after that. I worship at the alter of Bill Murray's life affirming Pabst Blue Ribbon pants. Only these pants could overshadow such a dapper jacket. In another moment of coincidence just a few days before the whole dredging up of "previously unreleased Kurt Cobain photos," I finally got around to reading Eric Erlandson's book Letters To Kurt . He is an excellent writer and quite the funny turner of a phrase. The trouble is that if you didn't run in the same circles or even several degrees of Kevin Bacon away from those circles, you might have trouble treading water in his sea of references from time to time. He didn't issue a decoder ring or its accompanying deciphering codes, but I managed to catch his continental drift. It is a moving collection of prose as well as grist for the mill of introspection. Any sensitive thoughtful person who listens to the music of Hole or Nirvana should read it. It might even deserve repeat readings. It's a pity more people won't even give it the first go 'round, but hopefully one person might stumble upon this and decide to put down their tablets, turn off the internet, and pick up an actual paper and print book like in ye olde days. Anyway, support him and buy the book. That reminds me that among other things in my long time spiritual hibernation (and or existential crisis), I forgot to watch Patty Schemel's Documentary Hit So Hard. I'm ashamed for more reasons than just that. And yes I'm aware I'm very late to the party on this one. You may legally stream the full length film for a couple of bucks or buy the blue ray. Support her. Anyway here is a teaser for you: Those who know me, even in a cursory way will understand that regarding this whole Colbert Show boycott due to alleged racism and calls for cancellation I say, "Me Chinese. Me make joke. Me make pee pee in your Coke." Those who do not know me will think I am racist and call for my cancellation. Don't think I haven't thought of it myself. I don't want to live in a world where satire isn't allowed to exist.