Monthly Archives: October 2010
Happy Halloween from William S. Burroughs and Insomnia
Once upon a time, there were witches… In this classic re-mix, the silent film Haxan is wed in an unholy matrimony to the laconic snarl of William S. Burroughs narrative aplomb. Here’s what the Wiki has to say: Häxan (English title: The Witches or Witchcraft Through The Ages) is a 1922 Swedish/Danish silent film written and [...]
That Duck is Chicken
Hey everybody, it’s about time we check in with our pal Hector Hernandez again to see what the Art Czar is up to… In a recent post, the ‘Czar had an abbreviated conversation with pop artist Dave MacDowell: Art Czar: Tell me about “Duck and Cover” MacDowell: “Duck and Cover” was painted for a group [...]
Donald Cammell: Performance of a Lifetime
Even if you are a die-hard fan of outre, counter-cultural cinema, you might not leap to attention at the mention of the name Donald Cammell. A painting prodigy as a young man, Cammell was making a living with his brushes by the age of 19. Having built the foundations of a lucrative portrait painting career, [...]
Dharma Bum
This month marks the 41st anniversary of Jack Kerouac’s passing. The autumn always reminds me of this angelheaded hipster. It probably has something to do with that typical rite of passage of reading On the Road for the first time in college, in the fall. I remember thinking, page-to-page, “This is the best book I’ve [...]
Google Illuminates the Dead Sea Scrolls
Hey babies, Want your very own copy of the Dead Sea Scrolls? You’ll soon be able to access the ancient writings in their – sort of – original form thanks to this interesting new project brought to you by the Israel Antiquities Authority and Google. Joel Greenberg of The Washington Post explains: The joint project [...]
Banksy Spoofs the Simpsons
If you haven’t seen the Banksy intro from the recent Simpsons episode, you’re in for a treat. But first, a word from Salon.com It’s a bold move to the let one’s own troops fire upon oneself. But what would entertainment be without the master taking on a bit of public whipping from the servant? Conan [...]
Noe/Anger
Here is an interesting match-up… Pioneering esoteric film maker Kenneth Anger gets interviewed by pioneering esoteric film maker Gaspar Noe in this match-made-in-heaven (hell?) tete-a-tete: Kenneth Anger, the octogenarian American underground filmmaker, has largely been heralded as one of the founders of experimental film, with his role in inspiring directors such as Martin Scorsese and [...]
REvolution
A little help… About a week ago I called upon my legion of Facebook friends to push this short film past the 600 views mark on YouTube. Within less than 24 hours we were there. Which got me to thinking, “What if I engaged my blog readers in a similar scheme?” If you haven’t seen [...]
London Calling Again
The image of Paul Simonon smashing his bass on the cover of The Clash’s London Calling is one of the most iconic images in all of rock ‘n’ roll. While you can’t always judge a record by its cover, in this case, you can. London Calling is a great collection in a great looking package, [...]
Greil Marcus on Bob Dylan
In this brand new book, America’s greatest music writer pulls together a career-worth of commentary about America’s greatest songwriter. With Bob Dylan, Greil Marcus offers up insights and criticisms, notions and associations about pop music’s greatest singer/songwriter. Perhaps no writer is as closely associated with a musical artist as Marcus is with Dylan and this [...]
