Ugly Americans

Ugly Americans is a show on Comedy Central about a social worker in NYC named Mark Lilly. His roommate is a zombie that bones anything that comes his way. His girlfriend is the spawn of Satan (literally) and becomes sexually aroused at the sight of physical violence. The artwork for this show is vaguely reminiscent of the early Vault of Horror or Tales from the Crypt comics.

Season One Download

Chen Man

From the "Red Beauty" series

In the massive creativity black hole that is the People's Republic of China, artist/photographers like Chen Man stand out quite a bit. Here's an quote from The Bui Gallery's feature:

Chen Man made a huge impact when she started shooting the covers for the Chinese Vision Magazine. As her work hit the Streets it was met with surprise and awe. People were not only blown away by the amazing photographic images combined seamlessly with computerized 3-D rendering, but also by the fact the artist herself is a Beijing born girl in her twenties.

Chen Man’s work is a combination of her skill with a camera, and her technical wizardry with a computer. She does all of her post-production image work herself, from retouching with Photoshop, to 3-D rendering with 3D Max. She has an extremely strong aesthetic eye that brings out the best of her models, and consequently shoots for the Chinese make up artist Tony Li, and various celebrities from China and Hong-Kong.

Her work is very much tailored towards the fashion industry. This isn't really my thing, but she does such a great job of it that I can't help but mention it here. Add that to the fact that creativity isn't what it use to be in the PRC, and the fact that she does all of her photography, post-processing, and 3-D work herself...then her work really starts to shine.

See more of her work here.

Jill Greenberg

You may or may not know that I am rather fond of photography. I'm not that great at it, but then again I can't afford a decent lens or the time off to use such a lens. Until then, I'll have to sit around and jealously look at prominent photographers' work.

One such prominent photographer is Jill "The Manipulator" Greenberg. You may have heard her name (probably not) mentioned during the last election for her rather sneaky, successful attempts at capturing unflattering photographs of John McCain in an attempt to make him appear evil, and then altering those photos prior to uploading them to her website. I find this to be rather childish of her, but regardless find her work and technique to be very interesting.

Her technique, called the "Greenberg Effect", isn't really anything you can just go out and do. It involves an extensive array of flashes, umbrellas, a ring flash, background lighting, and a very healthy dose of post-processing. Definitely not for amateurs. The effect generally creates an almost painting-like look to her subjects. On others, with less post-processing, it creates a very sharp, well lit, flattering look that brings out defining qualities in the subject's face without, unless you're John McCain, too much shadow.

This effect has earned her commission from a lot of advertisers, celebrities, and other important people. Jill Greenberg is hot shit, and if you were as good as she is, you'd be driving a bank truck around.

A few examples of her work:

There's a lot more to be seen and admired here.

Hijinks Ensue

Greetings, comrades. Been a while. Regardless, found another online comic. This one is geek-centric. That means I like it.

http://hijinksensue.com/

Sorry, I don't really have anything else to explain about it. I kind of just found it about six minutes and 14 seconds ago. Enjoy.

Virgil Finlay

I started researching Weird Tales a couple of years ago. The concept of pulp magazines appealed to my whimsical interests in fantasy, sci fi, and horror, and still do. That particular magazine encompassed all those emerging genres and really captured a zeitgeist amongst bedroom writers of the time period trying to eek out a living from their stories. The same was the case for the illustrators. One such artist was Virgil Finlay, who much like my idol Frank Frazetta, was a superb athlete who resigned himself to his striking artistic abilities as he got older. With the scratchboard as his chosen medium, Finlay was definitive with his outlandish style, stretching into avenues of fantasy that were only hinted at previous to his work. Monsters, aliens, and demons were all present in his work, and Virgil was extremely prolific. Like many artists with this type of word-of-mouth cult status, it was not until after his death that his work received a potent revival and collectability. I'd like to share with you now a few of my favorites, and a link to a large number of his works. The collection in the download only represents a fraction of what this man created.

"Virgil Finlay (July 23, 1914 – January 18, 1971) was an American pulp fantasy, science fiction and horror illustrator. While he worked in a range of media, from gouache to oils, Finlay specialized in, and became famous for, detailed pen-and-ink drawings accomplished with abundant stippling, cross-hatching, and scratchboard techniques. Despite the very labor-intensive and time-consuming nature of his specialty, Finlay created more than 2600 works of graphic art in his 35-year career.

Virgil Warden Finlay was born and raised in Rochester, New York; his father, woodworker Warden Hugh Finlay, died at age 40 in the midst of the Great Depression, leaving his family (widow Ruth and two children, Jean and Virgil) in straitened circumstances. By his high school years, Virgil Finlay exercised his passions for art and poetry, and discovered his lifelong subject matter through the pulp magazines of the era--science fiction, via Amazing Stories (1927), and fantasy and horror, via Weird Tales (1928), beginning to exhibit at the age of 16. By age 21 he was confident enough in his art to send six pieces, unsolicited, to editor Farnsworth Wright at Weird Tales. Once Wright determined that such detailed work would transfer successfully to relatively rough paper the magazine used (they were called "pulps" for a reason), he began buying Finlay's work. Finlay's illustrations debuted in the December 1935 issue of WT, and appeared in a total of 62 issues of the magazine, down to the last issue of the classic pulp in Sept. 1954. He also executed 19 color covers for WT, for issues from Feb. 1937 to March 1953.

A late-career Finlay illo published in the Amazing Stories issue of July, 1964.

Finlay quickly branched out to other publications after his 1935 debut; he was an immediate hit. In 1938 he went to work for A. Merritt at The American Weekly, moving from Rochester to New York City. Later the same year, he married Beverly Stiles, whom he had known in childhood in Rochester (Nov. 16, 1938). His adjustment to the city and to his new job was not smooth, however; he was fired and re-hired more than once. Yet during his period on the magazine's staff (1938-43), and later as a freelancer (1946-51), Finlay estimated that he did 845 different images, large and small, for Merritt's magazine.

Finlay served in the U.S. Army during World War II, and saw extensive combat in the South Pacific theatre, notably on Okinawa and did posters and illustrations for the Morale Services during his three years of military service. He resumed his artistic career after demobilization, doing a considerable amount of work for science fiction magazines and books. As the pulp magazine market narrowed through the 1950s, Finlay turned to astrology magazines as a new venue for his art.

Finlay also wrote poetry throughout his adult life. Virtually none was published in his lifetime, though significant samples have been printed posthumously.

Finlay had to undergo major surgery for cancer in early 1969. He recovered enough to go back to work for a time; but the cancer returned, and Virgil Finlay died of the disease early in 1971, aged 56. Ironically, Finlay just missed a resurgence in interest in his artwork from the early 1970s onward." - Wiki

Download.

The Death of Jim Varney

Why a tribute to Jim Varney? I'll tell you why, you smarmy prick, because Ernest Scared Stupid and Ernest Goes to Camp were defining films of my childhood. They stand on the pantheon of oddball films that first catered to any semblance of humor I had. I remember in 2000, upon finding out about Jim Varney's death, having a sense of profound loss associated with my childhood and feeling like I could never have quite the same laughs I did as a child. I have a short-list of things that recall childhood memories/sensations, and certain movies incite a pristine memory of care-freeness. These films conjure up that very particular nostalgia, memories that I didn't know I had 'til I play the movies. 

So when I thought about Jim Varney, and in my work-induced boredom, read his bio, I felt a deep appreciation for this thespian from Kentucky who carried a goofy, irritating character to its logical extreme. It's a testament for what one human can do for another through art, no matter how trashy or unsophisticated said art is. 

Also, it seems that Varney was a forerunner for this type of modern lovable idiot character. Pee Wee, Larry the Cable Guy (how I loathe typing those words), and Mr. Bean all followed this character-type. I think that assessment alone deserves consideration and review of the man's work, no matter how idiotic it may seem to you. I should also say that Scared Stupid was one of my first forays into horror, and there's not a more appropriate film for initiation. I know this is an ironic, sentimental post, but it came very poignantly to me, so there.

Download Torrent.

"Born June 15, 1949, James Albert Varney, Jr. was an American actor.

Varney began his interest in theater as a teenager, winning state titles in drama competitions while a student at Lafayette High School (which he graduated from with the class of 1968) in Lexington, Kentucky. At the age of 15, he portrayed Ebenezer Scrooge in a local children's theater production, and by 17, he was performing professionally in nightclubs and coffee houses. He listed a former teacher, Thelma Beeler, as being one of the main contributing factors in his becoming an actor.

He was best known for his character Ernest P. Worrell, originally created by Nashville advertising agency Carden and Cherry in the 1980s. The character was used in numerous television commercial campaigns in the following years.

He was also noted for doing commercials for car dealerships across the country, most notably Cerritos Auto Square in Cerritos, California. Another favorite Ernest vehicle was promotions for various TV stations around the nation, including the news team and the weather departments.

He also lent his voice to the character "Slinky Dog" in Disney's Toy Story film series, and to the character "Cookie" Farnsworth, from Atlantis: The Lost Empire, which was released the year after his death.

Varney provided the guest voice for the carny character "Cooder" for "Bart Carny" episode of The Simpsons.

Varney played the prince that Roseanne's sister Jackie started dating near the end of the 90s television series Roseanne.

Varney also played the part of Jed Clampett in the 1993 production of The Beverly Hillbillies. In addition to his Ernest Goes to... series, he starred in several smaller movies for Carden & Cherry such as Ernest P. Worrell's Family Album, Dr. Otto and the Riddle of the Gloom Beam, and Your World as I See It, all of which showcased his great facility with assuming a wide variety of characters and accents. Just prior to his stint as Ernest P. Worrell, Varney was a cast member on the notorious television flop Pink Lady and Jeff.

Jim Varney died of lung cancer on February 10, 2000 at 4:45 a.m. in his home in White House, Tennessee, as the movie Ernest the Pirate neared completion; he was 50 years old." - Lexington Arts Website

Being Human

I've heard a lot of buzz about Being Human from a couple of blogs and decided to check it out myself. I'm two episodes in and really enjoying it. I knew I was hooked when the werewolf dude's transition scene happened and it came off almost as painful as the scene from An American Werewolf in London without the use of CG(!). I don't like the dude that plays the vampire in the pilot episode, and I'm glad they ditched him. I think maybe its was his character coming off as a goofy Bullet for My Valentine fan rather than an old vampire trapped in a young man's body. Apparently, like all things reasonably entertaining, they're Americanizing this soon. Here are MU links to the entire first season, including the pilot.

Pilot

Episode One

Episode Two

Episode Three

Episode Four

Episode Five

Episode Six

Cosmic Jokers - Galactic Supermarket (1974)

w/ Timothy Leary in the studio.

Kosmiche rock was an off-shoot of all the insane krautrock coming from Germany in the early 70s. I dig the shit out of space rock, and I think this represents the subgenre at its purest. I've dropped out to track 2 several times lately - really coaxed me into some great sleep. This was an unofficial, reluctant supergroup all flung way out on psychotropic substances tinkering in a studio for weeks at a time. It sounds exactly like that. This is my favorite record out of the batch. It features one of the great ambient artists, Klaus Schulze, who eventually sued over his likeness and name being used without permission. I'm posting the story behind the making of their albums because it's hilarious. I wonder if the guy that wrote the bio below couldn't help but place the word 'furor' in there.

"Over several months in early 1973, producer Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser organized several wild acid parties at Dieter Dierks’ sound studio, where the musicians played in exchange for a small fee and all the hallucinogens they could ingest. These musicians included Manuel Göttsching and Klaus Schulze of Ash Ra Tempel, Jurgen Dollase and Harald Grösskopf of Wallenstein, and Dierks himself. They had all been part of the Cosmic Couriers, a loose group that had musically backed Kaiser-produced records by Swiss artist/poet Sergius Golowin, gypsy Tarot-reader Walter Wegmüller, and even acid guru Timothy Leary the year before. From these 1973 sessions, the Cosmic Jokers were born, as Kaiser and Dierks edited and mixed the material and slapped it out on vinyl on Kaiser’s Kosmische Musik label without the other musicians knowing anything about it until the records appeared in stores, even as their pictures were posted prominently on the covers.

It caused a furor in Germany at the time, and it remains an early case of music fraud -long before the hip-hop era- since the music was “borrowed” without the musicians consent(apart from many magic mushrooms probably used to get them in there in the first place). 

The first to find out was guitarist Manuel Göttsching when he entered a Berlin record store in 1974 and found out the music being played on the stereo was from those sessions. He thought the guitarist sounded familiar, but he was shocked to find it was himself. 

The other musicians have mostly deemed these recordings as trash. Klaus Schulz has been particularly harsh in his criticism referring to these CDs as “cosmic crap”. It’s true that these albums caused lawsuits against Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser (head of Kosmische Musik, formerly Ohr) It ruined his career and effectively drove him out of Germany.

However, for fans of German experimental music, these releases are classics and they remain important to this day." - Last.FM

Cosmic Jokers - Galactic Supermarket (1974)

1. Kinder des Alles pt 1

2. Kinder des Alles pt 2

3. Kinder des Alles pt 3

4. Galactic Supermarket pt 1

5. Galactic Supermarket pt 2

6. Galactic Supermarket pt 3

Download.

Diane Arbus

Diane Arbus worked with the fringe. She worked with "deviant and marginal people (dwarfs, giants, transvestites, nudists, circus performers) or else of people whose normality seems ugly or surreal"

I think this is a good place for her.

Edward Weston

Edward Weston was one of the biggest reasons I became interested in photography. I found a book of his work in a library when I was around 13 and have been taking pictures ever since.

One day I'll go to the desert where the man worked and find him.

Gustave Doré

Frazetta, Finlay, Giger, and Doré. They transport me. These artists traveled to other dimensions in their work, enlightening us earthlings of creations we couldn't conceptualize without them. There are lots of artists whose work mystifies me, but the bafflement I experience over Doré's paintings and engravings quite possibly trumps them all. I'm particularly partial to some of the pieces from his "The Raven" set. I really need to locate some Doré prints. Underneath the bio, I'm posting samples of my favorites, and below that there's a link to a 220 MB .rar file with the majority of his work in it in high quality.

"Paul Gustave Doré (January 6, 1832 – January 23, 1883) was a French artist, engraver, illustrator and sculptor. Doré worked primarily with wood engraving and steel engraving. 

Doré was born in Strasbourg and his first illustrated story was published at the age of fifteen. At age five he was a prodigy artist already creating drawings. When he turned 12 he began to carve his art in stone. Doré began work as a literary illustrator in Paris. Doré commissions include works by Rabelais, Balzac, Milton and Dante. In 1853 Doré was asked to illustrate the works of Lord Byron. This commission was followed by additional work for British publishers, including a new illustrated English Bible. In 1863, Doré illustrated a French edition of Cervantes's Don Quixote, and his illustrations of the knight and his squire Sancho Panza have become so famous that they have influenced subsequent readers, artists, and stage and film directors' ideas of the physical "look" of the two characters. Doré also illustrated an oversized edition of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven", an endeavor that earned him 30,000 francs from publisher Harper & Brothers in 1883.

Doré's English Bible (1866) was a great success, and in 1867 Doré had a major exhibition of his work in London. This exhibition led to the foundation of the Doré Gallery in New Bond Street. In 1869, Blanchard Jerrold, the son of Douglas William Jerrold, suggested that they work together to produce a comprehensive portrait of London. Jerrold had gotten the idea from The Microcosm of London produced by Rudolph Ackermann, William Pyne, and Thomas Rowlandson in 1808. Doré signed a five-year project with the publishers Grant & Co that involved his staying in London for three months a year. He was paid the vast sum of £10,000 a year for his work. He was mainly known for his paintings, contrary to popular belief about his wood carvings. His paintings are world renowned, but his woodcuts are where he really excelled.

The book, London: A Pilgrimage, with 180 engravings, was published in 1872. It enjoyed commercial success, but the work was disliked by many contemporary critics. Some critics were concerned with the fact that Doré appeared to focus on poverty that existed in London. Doré was accused by the Art Journal of "inventing rather than copying." The Westminster Review claimed that "Doré gives us sketches in which the commonest, the vulgarest external features are set down." The book was also a financial success, and Doré received commissions from other British publishers. Doré's later works included Coleridge's Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Milton's Paradise Lost, Tennyson's The Idylls of the King, The Works of Thomas Hood, and The Divine Comedy. His work also appeared in the Illustrated London News. Doré continued to illustrate books until his death in Paris in 1883. He is buried in the city's Père Lachaise Cemetery."

- Wiki

Download.

Quix*O*tic - Mortal Mirror (2002)

Here's a really singular album that owes as much to Motown as it does to post punk and experimental music. I found out about this band after researching guitar virtuoso Mick Barr, whom I'll post more on eventually. All the members of the band brought unique styling to the fold, and it seems this was just an on-and-off project for all involved. I dig the eclectic mish-mash and the haunting vocals, particularly on the track "The Breeze." Here's a review from Aquarius Records that I don't agree with completely (the Sabbath cover is interesting), but it does summarize the music well. I also read the dismissive article about this album posted on Pitchfork in 2002, which reiterated how little I should pay attention to sharply negative, opinionated reviews.

"This is ex-Slant 6 / Autoclave star Christina Billotte's new band. Joining her is her sister Mira and, as a suprise to us, Mick Barr of Orthrelm and Octis (who keeps his lightspeed squiggly metallic guitar style in check here). Quix*o*tic has the edgy danciness of Slant 6, but that's where the similarities end. Stylistically it's really all over the place but in a good way. There are songs that sound like slightly twisted and odd British psych and folk. There's some '60s soul/funk influenced numbers with creative backing vocals that reminded me of the old Motown girl groups. There are a few unfortunate moments on this record however, namely those few cheesy and embarrassing covers that made us cringe. The worst is without a doubt "Lord Of This World" by Black Sabbath. Yikes, that's really bad! A good song, but we don't care for their somewhat careless cover version. I can't tell if they're trying to be funny or not, but I didn't approve. So, if you just skip the covers this record is pretty darn cool, creative and eclectic. With the covers, it's still eclectic, even more so. Bravo, kind of."

Quix*O*tic - Mortal Mirror (2002)

  1. Ice Cream Sundae 

 2. Anonymous Face

 3. Open Up the Walls 

 4. The Breeze 

 5. Mortal Mirror  

 6. Sitting in the Park  

 7. Forget to Sing  

 8. On My Own  

 9. To This World I Must Give In  

10. Tell It Like It Is  

11. Masterpeaceful  

12. Lord of this World

Download.

Alpha & Omega - Everyday Life (1993)

I'm posting this on the strength of the lead-off track David & Goliath. I was turned on to this band by an Al Cisneros(Sleep, Om, Shrinebuilder)-curated compilation called Transmissions from Sinai that benefited Arthur Magazine. This a pretty obscure dub release from 1993. This was even difficult to track down, but I think it's pretty insane how much they capture the vibe of early dub, being British.

"As the duo, Alpha and Omega, Christine Woodbridge and John Sprosen have created a style of dub, the remixing offshoot of reggae, that is uniquely British. While they were initially influenced by original dub recordings by Lee "Scratch" Perry, King Tubby and Augustus Pablo, Woodbridge and Sprosen have continued to evolve their own sound. "Option" magazine explained, "through minimal manipulation, (Alpha and Omega) deliver the listener to a place of great sonic peace". According to "The Wire", "The compelling presences at the hear of these airy sonic worlds have a harder edge than some of their ancestors'. "Pulse!" dug even deeper into their explanation of Alpha and Omega's sound, which they described as, "massively thunderous bass lines, galloping drum tracks and a willingness to tastefully adorn dubs with digital flutes and various electronic sounding washes". Bassist Woodbridge, one of reggae's few woman instrumentalists, and keyboardist Sprosen began working together after meeting in the southwestern coastal city of Plymouth in Devon, England. Both musicians had previously played in various reggae bands and Sprosen had worked with the Roaring Lion Sound System. Pooling their resources, Woodbridge and Sprosen spent several years recording rhythm tracks prior to releasing their debut album, Daniel in the Lion's Den, as a cassette that they released on their own label, A & O, in 1990. Two years later, the duo signed with Greensleeves, keeping the imprint A &O as part of the agreement. Alpha and Omega have continued to collaborate with other British reggae bands. The duo supplied rhythm tracks for Jah Shaka and appeared on the indie-dance band Flowered Up's single, "The Reggae Song". The duo was accompanied by the Disciples on their 1997 album, Sacred Art of Dub; Mystical Things followed three years later and Dub Philosophy appeared in summer 2001."

Everyday Life (1993)

1. David And Goliath featuring Teacha

2. Davids Stone

3. Everyday Life

4. Warrior

5. Never Give Up

6. One Culture

7. One Prayer

8. Know Your History

9. Ruler Of Heaven And Earth

10. Only Jah Know

Download.

TAG 26

Here's a really impressive post-apocalyptic short film.

Otto Dix

The grimness of Otto Dix's artwork has long been intriguing to me. The new vibe of this blog owes a huge debt to Dix's morose work. I've always felt a kinship with artists like Dix who don't quite fit with any certain movements, but gain cult status from the morbid nature of their work. I couldn't find many resources with high quality scans, so I had to settle for posting what bits and pieces I could find. The most compelling piece of Dix's for me, personally, is his masterpiece War (Triptych). Here's some bio information:

"Otto Dix (1891-1969), the great German Expressionist, was famous for his unique and grotesque style. Although Hitler's Nazi regime destroyed many of Otto Dix's works, the majority of his paintings can still be seen in museums throughout Germany.

Dix was, like many young German men of the time, initially a supporter of the war; so much so that he volunteered in 1915 at the age of 24. He was placed in an artillery regiment based near his hometown of Dresden. The unit was sent to the Western Front, where Dix fought in the Battle of the Somme in 1916. He was wounded several times on the Western Front. In 1917, he was transferred to the Eastern Front until the armistice with Russia later that year. His unit then went back to the Western Front and took part in the German spring offensive. Dix was decorated for his service; but his experiences had affected him deeply.

Those experiences triggered recurring nightmares, which in turn fed into the images he produced in War.

After the war, he flirted with both the German Expressionists and Dadaists; although his desire to use a more realistic style made him a poor fit for those groups. He became known not just as a war artist, but also as a social commentator; pointing out some of the less desirable aspects of life during the Weimar Republic (1919 – 1933). These included paintings and drawings depicting amputee veterans of the war begging on Berlin’s streets.

With the rise of Hitler, Dix was branded as a “degenerate” artist; and some of his works were burned by the Nazis. In 1939, he was arrested on the grounds of being involved in a plot against Hitler. Although he was later released, most commentators concur that Dix was not involved and that the arrest was a fit-up.

Perhaps ironically, Dix was conscripted towards the end of World War II into the Volkssturm (the German equivalent of the Home Guard), was captured by French troops and spent time as a prisoner-of-war before being released in February 1946. He continued to paint, with his allegorical depictions of post-war suffering again prominent; although he also turned to religious themes in his later years. Dix died in the southern town of Singen (then in West Germany) near the shores of Lake Constance in 1969."

Portraits - 

War (Sketches and Paintings) - 

 

War Triptych (High Res Above)