I’ve been wanting to write something here about Susie Cagle’s coverage of Occupy Oakland for a couple weeks now. But, given the occupation’s escalating nature and Susie’s work on it being ongoing observation and documentation for an eventual full report, there was not an easy way in to hang a post on. Recent events and the press attention given them makes this seem like a good time to jump in. Occupy Oakland has been a strange story to try to follow, from the reports that make it all sound like a raging riot in the Guardian to the feel good piece in the LA Times on Thursday morning about protesters grabbing breakfast burritos from a food truck with the dockworkers Union boss. Add to this the such mindblowing events as solidarity protests in Tahrir Square and it’s all just a bit much to take in. One thing is certain, however, The Oakland Police Department is deeply fucked up. That’s not a big surprise to anyone, but it is shocking that the press has repeatedly been on the direct receiving end of their repressive measures — from their dusting off the riot playbook last Tuesday to this weeks imprisonment and intimidation exercises. Susie Cagle has been one of the most visible targets of their insane anti-journalist campaign — catching an exploding can of teargas right in front of her face (video above) to her arrest, imprisonment and the holding of her personal belongings by the police over the last few hours. As of this writing they are still holding her stuff, including her apartment keys. Yet, she is determined to follow this story until the end despite all of this. That level of commitment is a true inspiration. Just be safe out there, Susie. I don’t ever want to see you added to this roster at CPJ.
UPDATE: Posted late today on YouTube, Susie’s video from the plaza raid right before she was arrested. Yes, the footage is a bit rough. If I was ever in a situation where a large group of people were being told “Get on the ground, you’re under arrest”, I would probably try to run, break into a building, something–all Gordon Freeman style–because I would assume the alternative was far worse…
A movie trailer project inspired by the graphic novel “The INCAL”, from Moebius and Jodorowsky.
A while ago, I reunited a bunch of the artists from the original “Heavy Metal” movie, to produce a trailer based upon this great work. Then I got busy building my company and it sat on shelf until a few months back, when I decided to revamp it with today’s digital punch.
Two sequences from the original “Heavy Metal” movie were borrowed from Moebius’s work; “The Long Tomorrow” story and “Arzach”. Given that till this day, Moebius and Jodorowsky are heralded as some of the world’s greatest Sci-Fi visionaries; it seems to me that a film, based on their work would be even more successful than one inspired by it.
Bringing these incredible artists’s work to the big screen, I am convinced would be a great success…so much so that I animated and directed this piece with other like artists.
Tune in to the Travel Channel tonight, Sunday October 30th, 2011, for their new special “Halloween Crazy”, which includes a segment on San Jose’s Psycho Donuts. The spot features photos and videos produced by Marc Arsenault and Wow Cool, largely as part of the Psycho Nurse Calendar project.
From $1000 pumpkin carvings to a terror fest in a former prison, we’ve dug up the most spine-tingling, wacky and festive Halloween traditions in the nation.
Halloween Crazy debuts at 9pm Eastern/Pacific Sunday, October 30. Repeats are at 5pm and Midnight on Halloween.
The New York Times talked to Jason Martin about his Power Animals installations, videos and performances as part of a longer piece on Brooklyn’s Microscope Gallery and the live birth that recently happened there. A version of this article appeared in print on October 30, 2011, on page MB1 of the New York edition with the headline: For a Gallery at the Edge, Fame Is Born Tuesday. Jason’s Power Animals Systems NYC Windows installations run through January 14, 2012.
THESE risks include screenings and performances by emerging local artists, like Jason Martin. Mr. Martin, 38, makes what he calls “power animal videos,” in which he dresses as a wolf or dog and conducts séance-like rituals intended to contact the half-animal, half-human creatures that visited him in dreams as a child.
Power Animal Systems, an installation by Jason Martin will be on view through January 14th, 2012. A solo show in windows on Broadway and Washington Square in Manhattan. Viewable 24/7. Works in photography, video, sculpture, and teleportation. Presented by 80WSE Galleries.
Power Animal Systems asks you to please assist in transmission. There are many creatures beyond our perception, but we have technologies to evoke some. These are attempts to bring inter-dimensional, species-queer, animal/human hybrids into a collective reality. They appear here staring intently at us. What do they want? To live! It is only with your participation and contemplation that we can make them come alive. Please assist us in transmission.
The tweetstream is humming this morning. Your soundtrack right now should be the Thom Yorke 6Mix. He drops in a cut from former touring partners Low in the mix – it’s one from the days when La Mano Press main man Zak Sally was still thumping bass with that unit. Enjoy the video.
Tom Hart writes about spending some time with the talented Derek Ballard, and about about this whole fusion comics business. Many illustrations.
Box Brown spotted this one: Mars is a romantic comedy in space that counts James Kolchaka, Kinky Friedman and Cynthia Watros among it’s cast members and has a soundtrack that features Kristin Hersh and Neko Case. All you need to know is on the Swerve Pictures site.
And lastly, on my old on-air stomping grounds WSVA (Where I hosted Grunion Radio with Ben Jackson, Sam Henderson and many others back in 1988-89), Sam Weber is interviewing Lisa Hanawalt Wednesday, October 19, and they need your questions. We just got copies of a thick mini comic and a limited edition letterpress print by Lisa in the shop. You really should check those out.
Stalker is an astounding film that you simply must see.
Go to nostalghia.com for all the Tarkovsky info you could ever want.
You can watch just about every film Tarkovsky made and much more online. Here’s a convenient gateway.
Stalker is also available on DVD Sadly no Criterion edition yet.
Adam Curtis may be the greatest journalist of our age. Yes, whatever, or whenever, that is… He is certainly one of its greatest documentarians. His skilled use of the video medium – in films that demand that you both look and listen to get the full effect – persuasively show and tell that things are not quite as you have been told (and shown). His most recent work – All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace – named for the Richard Brautigan poem of the same name – seems particularly relevant in light of the spread of the current Occupy movement. This documentary series also gives perspective on the origins of aspects of the Tea Party Movement and the influence of Ayn Rand in particular. Strangely, one of the greatest proselytizers of Randian Objectivism – especially in Canada and the Northern mid-west – the rock band Rush, is not mentioned.
You will want to pay regular visits to Curtis’ blog at the BBC. His access to their archives has leant him unique incite into many of the world’s recent shaking events.
Television has had many memorable encounters over the years… David Frost and Richard Nixon; Tom Snyder and Public Image, Ltd.; and, then there’s Groucho Marx and Albert Hall. The whole show is hilarious… although, um, the way Groucho addressed the ladies back then gets almost disturbing in nature. The real gem is veteran newspaper pressman Albert Hall – has Drew Friedman ever drawn this guy? He shows up a little after 16 minutes in. This is just amazing stuff. Classic TV.
It’s a sad Monday in October for fans of Adventure Time. For my Canadian brethren it is a time of celebration, of Thanksgiving, even. In the United States it’s the time of the quasi-holiday celebrating Christopher Columbus (Indigenous Peoples Day in some regions). I qualify to commemorate either of those (Being descended from Canadian natives), instead, I will be growling at the lack of postal services and a new episode of Adventure Time. So, to make up for this lack in some small way, mostly courtesy of my experiences at APE in San Francisco this past weekend, I bring you a tour of the art crew that designs the mad world of Finn and Jake.
APE 2011 – The Alternative Press Expo – took place on October 1-2, 2011 at the Concourse in San Francisco. Five of the artists who work on Adventure Time with Finn & Jake were in attendance: Thomas Herpich, Andy Ristaino, Rebecca Sugar, Ian Jones-Quartey, and Jesse Moynihan. Another A.T. artist who was not in attendance was conspicious by the presence of his many works at the show – Canadian contributor Michael DeForge.
I was just sent this by Scott Beibin, who worked on it, and am sharing it. I’m a little behind on what is going on in New York at the moment, so playing catchup now. Whatever your view, this is pretty major and you should stay informed. This video makes an interesting gateway into the datastream.
Having covered the one-off PiL reunion of Jah Wobble and Keith Levene – sans their well-known ginger-out-of-the-bottle singer last year – I’d be amiss to not point you to their much more official reunion on an upcoming release on Cherry Red Records and in the promo clip for the single ‘Tightrope’ from the new unit centered on Wobble and Julie Campbell called Psychic Life. More so than anyone else in Public Image Limited, Jah Wobble has regularly issued vital slabs of new tunes, from his collaborations with Bjork, Sinéad O’Connor, Pharoah Sanders, Bill Laswell, Adrian Sherwood, and members of CAN and Urban Dance Squad, to his more recent excursions like Damage Manual, The Chinese Dub Orchestra and last year’s ‘Welcome To My World’. Wobble has been a singular example of an artist who has balanced a long history of DIY releases (most recently and consistently on his 30 Hertz label) with major label outings. He continues to be a vital artist and an inspiration to anyone trying to make a go of it in the current Bizzaro World landscape of the music industry. So this new joint is certainly worth a listen. Psychic Life also have a very lovely website. I’m curious to see where they go with this clear nod to psychogeography. Hopefully something a bit deeper that what you get from a Will Self column.
Tightrope’ is released as part of a four track Psychic Life EP on 10th October. It features Keith Levene on guitar. ‘Tightrope’ is also on the Psychic Life album which will be released on the 7th November 2011. Both the EP and album will be released on Cherry Red Records. Keith Levene features on three tracks of the album.
From 1993. Never before seen! Punk zine goes video with live performances by Doc Hopper, Nuisance, Drop Dead, Slave State and Lumpen Proletariat (Ottawa)!
Pay a visit to Reconstruction Records with Peter Ventantonio of Sticks & Stones! Tour Albany, New York’s Tulip Fest with Andy, Paul and Jason! See the members of Huasipungo scowling in back of ABC No Rio! Special appearances by Sam Henderson and Human Lard Dog!
Sadly this version is not the best quality. The raw footage was shot on VHSC… I want to go back and capture from that or the VHS dump of it. I did this edit on a crappy system at the old Schenectady public access. It chewed up the video and jumped at every edit. grrr. I was so disappointed that I never released it, and it was only shown a couple times. The encoding to get it on the web didn’t do it any favors either.
Additional camera by Darryl Kahan. Believe it!
Andy’s Chair was a punk and comics and such zine created by Marc Arsenault. There were three regular print issues and a tour zine half issue called puppydoglove released between 1991-1995. The second issue included the Sounds of Suburban Dance compilation tape.
Poster for the Nuisance & Doc Hopper show that was taped for the episode.
Hello all. Sorry it’s been a little quiet here. Been a little busy building a new Wow Cool online shop. This is something like the fifth version (counting the DeptEx shop and the first store that was hosted by another company way back in 1995/1996). As mentioned previously the redevelopment of Wow Cool is happening right in plain view. The view will get stranger as the shop moves to the front page and gets better integrated with this blog. The design will also be changing. Expect the launch (and some other exciting announcements) sometime in mid-September.
In the meanwhile, we are holding a one week beta test of the shop. There are currently 157 items. More are being added every day. All your old favorites are in there from the likes of Steven Cerio, Brown Cuts Neighbors, God Hates Computers, Sam Henderson, Cometbus and many more. Yes, Wow Cool has basically gone and picked up where we left off when the old Berkeley warehouse closed way back at the end of 1998. But, you know, much better.
PLEASE NOTE: The shop will not be staying in it’s current location. This is a one week test that will end early on Tuesday, August 23. Please ignore the ugliness of the current layout. Most of the work on the site has been focussed on developing the product pages and making the integration with the post office and PayPal rock solid. The shop is also fully HTTPS/SSL secured and certified, as guaranteed by Comodo. The whole ordering process should work smoothly. Shipping is now based on size and weight. The old flat priority weight for everything is long gone; you may now select the shipping method that meets your needs. Any orders placed during this period will be shipped with as many extra goodies that will fit in the box.
OK, now some random interesting stuff out on the interwebs…
As has been reported just about everywhere else first, Hedi Slimane has posted photos of Frances Bean Cobain in which she is clearly sporting a lovely tattoo of Al Columbia’s Seymour Sunshine. I like to imagine that when she sleeps, Seymour leaps off her arm – Out of The Inkwell style – to go make out with Quentin Crisp on her right shoulder.
Gary Panter has been posting many great links and articles on the artists that influenced him through the Gary Panter Fans Facebook group and elsewhere. Two recent ones you will want to be sure to check out are the website of Bob Zoell and this article by Gary on Peter Saul on HiLowBrow.
A whole slew of upcoming shows have been announced involving Joshua Baker/Offset Needle Radius and Jason Martin. If you are in the Northeast you should check some of these out.
Just posted a couple days ago is this version of the short film Radio Free Blissville. The soundtrack features a brief, but significant contribution by nickname: Rebel. I have not seen this version before and am guessing it is, if not the definitive version, then, possibly, the final one. It’s my favorite mix of it yet. Enjoy.
Radio Free Blissville is a short film made in 2009 directed by J.F. Culhane. A version of the short premiered at the Anthology Film Archives NewFilmmakers series in New York City. It is the starting point of a longer feature project called Transmission888.
As documented earlier, we continue to build with either no real purpose to the buildings themselves or no realistic plan to sustainably maintain these buildings. There is much glorious decay that remains to be explored by the intrepid and the foolish. Infiltration zine has done a great deal to lead the way.
A hot topic recently has been that of the Chinese Ghost Cities. A Sino-Housing Bubble of a scale appropriate to the nation that happens to have the most damn people on earth living under it. Get the satellite view here.
In case you thought we might be the heck super efficient in land use here in the West, I would like to send you to this report on the UK’s Post Office Railway. You will want to read all of it and take in every photo.
Print
Sadly no Criterion edition yet.
