Topics | Dangerous Minds (2024)

08.25.2009

01:26 am

Topics:

Tags:

Great 1978 essay from the Cienfuegos Press Anarchist Review where sainted SF writer Michael Moorco*ck takes a heavy swing at right-wing science fiction writers and fans. Great stuff in here.

An anarchist is not a wild child, but a mature, realistic adult imposing laws upon the self and modifying them according to an experience of life, an interpretation of the world. A ‘rebel’, certainly, he or she does not assume ‘rebellious charm’ in order to placate authority (which is what the rebel heroes of all these genre stories do). There always comes the depressing point where Robin Hood doffs a respectful cap to King Richard, having clobbered the rival king. This sort of implicit paternalism is seen in high relief in the currently popular Star Wars series which also presents a somewhat disturbing anti-rationalism in its quasi-religious ‘Force’ which unites the Jedi Knights (are we back to Wellsian ‘samurai’ again?) and upon whose power they can draw, like some holy brotherhood, some band of Knights Templar. Star Wars is a pure example of the genre (in that it is a compendium of other people’s ideas) in its implicit structure—quasi-children, fighting for a paternalistic authority, win through in the end and stand bashfully before the princess while medals are placed around their necks.

Star Wars carries the paternalistic messages of almost all generic adventure fiction (may the Force never arrive on your doorstep at three o’clock in the morning) and has all the right characters. It raises ‘instinct’ above reason (a fundamental to Nazi doctrine) and promotes a kind of sentimental romanticism attractive to the young and idealistic while protective of existing institutions. It is the essence of a genre that it continues to promote certain implicit ideas even if the author is unconscious of them. In this case the audience also seems frequently unconscious of them.

(Link here.)

08.25.2009

12:09 am

Topics:

Tags:

I’m not exactly sure what this site is about, but it’s kind of cool. Some not-bad art in there too!

(Link here.)

08.24.2009

09:28 pm

Topics:

Tags:

It used to pain me to think that the only footage in existence of the Velvet Underground performing was silent. Think about it: Have you ever seen any sync-sound film of the Velvets in any of the various documentaries made about them, Lou Reed, Nico, John Cale or Andy Warhol for that matter? I didn’t think so, but thanks to the rather enterprising employee of either the Museum of Modern Art or else the Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh who liberated Symphony in Sound you can now see the Velvets in action and actually hear them too! That’s the good part.

The bad part is that this film, made to be screened behind the band onstage during The Exploding Plastic Inevitable “happenings” is pretty boring. It goes on for a LONG time with not much happening besides a drony primitive jam and a frenetic camera zooming in and out. Nico is there (with her young son Ari) but she’s not singing, just hitting a tambourine. Lou doesn’t sing either. At one point the camera droops on its tripod and no one readjusts it for a while. So it’s boring, most Warhol films were boring—Warhol himself always said his movies were better discussed than actually seen—but it is the freaking Velvet Underground playing live on camera for what is probably the ONLY time during their original incarnation, so it’s worth looking at for that reason alone. If you can get over how dull it is, it’s actually pretty cool. There are several versions of this online, this one, from Google Video is merely the longest. I don’t know if this is the whole thing but in the later moments of the bootleg DVD I have, it gets better when the cops show up due to a noise complaint and Warhol has to deal with them himself.

08.24.2009

08:36 pm

Topics:

Tags:

It’s Doctor Who week here at Dangerous Minds! Feast your ears on one of the most iconic sci-fi theme tunes—not to mention opening credit sequences—in TV history. Composed by Ron Grainer, but actually “constructed” by BBC Radiophonic Workshop employee Delia Derbyshire (more on her later in the week), the Doctor Who theme music is considered a landmark in the development of electronic music. Its distinctly shimmering sonics, elevator cable bassline and crystalline melody were recorded many years before commercially available synthesizers were available. In this clip you can hear several permutations of the theme from throughout the years. Although I like all of them, I like the 80s themes the least. It just got over-embellished. When Russell T. Davies revived the Doctor from his long hibernation in 2005, he and composer Murray Gold wisely moved back towards the original 60s theme, but adding a nice modern orchestral twist. It’s like outer-space Wagner!

Here is Orbital’s version!

08.24.2009

04:42 pm

Topics:

Tags:

I first wrote here about my many year devotion to the more traditionally-named Sue McLane. But outside her highly recommended work with Suburban Lawns (Baby, Suburban Lawns), further Su Tissue material has been limited to her long out-of-print solo album from ‘82, “Salon de Musique.” It’s a less poppy, piano-driven side of Su that’s lovely in its own right. If you’re curious as to what a “chilled-out” Su might sound like, follow this link over to Dualtrack. Like I said, lovely! And for more Lawns-style surfpop, here’s the Jonathan Demme-directed video for Gidget Goes To Hell.

08.24.2009

03:05 pm

Topics:

Tags:

“Pink” films, that brand of cutesy, cuddly, Japanese softcore, hold, for me, limited cinematic appeal. But I do adore Mitsuru Meike‘s bravely outrageous, The Glamorous Life of Sachiko Hanai from 2003. In it, the director of such fare as Bitter Sweet, and, of course, Lascivious Nurse Uniform Diary: Two or Three Times, While I’m Wet, injects the genre with a (needed?) dose of political commentary.

Here’s the shorthand: out making the rounds one night, sexy tutor-slash-call girl Sachiko Hanai (played by the adorably game Emi Kuroda) winds up with a bullet in her brain. She’s cool with that. In fact, the bullet gives her a genius-level IQ. She even—if I’m remembering things correctly here—starts quoting Nietzsche. But the plot really kicks in when Sachiko learns she’s come into possession of George Bush’s severed finger. His cloned severed finger. Unlike what I’ve seen of Bush the man, though, his finger has an unstoppable sexual appetite. Oh, and it’s also wanted by North Korea to trigger a nuclear holocaust.

What’s Meike saying with all this? I couldn’t put my finger on it. But here’s both a warning and a possible enticement: Bush’s finger winds up exactly where you think it will. The (vaguely NSFW-ish) trailer for Sachiko Hanai follows below:

08.24.2009

03:01 pm

Topics:

Tags:

Richard Metzger interviews outgoing Timelord David Tennant and former Doctor Who executive producer Russell T. Davies at the Langham Hotel in Pasadena, CA for Boing Boing Video.

“I’m one of those guys who downloads Doctor Who and Torchwood within seconds of them hitting the torrent trackers. Just a few hours after they air in the UK, I’m watching them in Los Angeles. My wife asked me what I wanted for Christmas last year and I said “A new Doctor Who episode, but I’m getting that already.” That’s how much I love the show (She’s a fan too, but drew the line at me using the TARDIS landing for my ring tone).

“So it was great fun for me to meet Russell and David. A real treat. They’re both friendly, charismatic guys who who were really easy to interview. They clearly enjoy each others company and there was a nice, loose banter between them that I think will be fun for the fans to watch here. They’ve got their double act down pat, let’s just say.

“This interview took place at an interesting moment in time for both men as they’ve only just left behind their respective starring roles in one of the biggest television successes in the world today. As difficult as that may sound, you can only imagine how much pressure is off them after four years of practically non-stop work. I think it shows in this interview, as they’re both very relaxed and jovial. David had just come from Comic Con where he was treated with fan adulation bordering on Beatlemania and Russell is starting a new phase of his life here in Los Angeles. The week we shot this he was just coming off the double whammy career high of Torchwood practically *taking over* British television for an entire week with his brilliant Children of Earth mini-series (read my review here) and then seeing it launch BBC America’s new HD service with a resounding success right afterward here. How lucky Hollywood is to have Britain’s answer to Rod Serling in such close proximity these days and I’m sure it won’t be long before we’re reading in Variety what David Tennant will do next. He’s an interesting actor and a lot of big people will want to work with him, so expect that it will be something worth watching! Like I say, I think it’s an interesting glimpse into a transitional time for both David and Russell and these were the questions that I wanted to ask them, not as a journalist on assignment, but as a big Doctor Who fan (“David, isn’t leaving Doctor Who like Sean Connery quitting James Bond?”), so I hope other Who fans around the world will enjoy this as much as I did.”

08.24.2009

01:49 pm

Topics:

Tags:

I was shocked, then, as these things go, shocked not at all to learn that Jayson Blair, ex-fabricator for the NYT, has repositioned himself as a “life coach!” Blair was part of that Bush-era wave of truth-benders that included, among others, the Times’ Judith Miller and Oprah whipping boy James Frey.

In his four years at the Times, Blair wrote nearly 600 articles about the war in Iraq, many of them factually suspect or, worse, distorted by design. Well, who better to handle your “career crisis” than someone like that?! Oh, and Blair’s also able to guide you through the choppy waters of substance abuse and bipolar disorder! Blair’s website makes no mention of his past misdeeds, but there’s no mistaking his still-evident talents as a writer:

I firmly believe in harnesses the beautiful things about mental illness—whether its creativity and depth, or energy and daydreaming—so that the client can live a safe and healthy life without giving up the things that make them unique.

From the NYT: Times Reporter Who Resigned Leaves Long Trail of Deception

In Slate: Blair, Bliar

08.24.2009

11:44 am

Topics:

Tags:

(via HYST)

08.24.2009

05:11 am

Topics:

Tags:

Anarchist blogger Dorian Cope says:

Eighty-two years ago today on 23rd August 1927, Italian-born anarchists ?