Film

Head Ache

. . 400 Pinball Machines and Counting at the Texas Pinball Festival (Video)

Yes, folks. Step right up. It’s the 2013 Texas Pinball Festival, except… Whoops! You missed it. But don’t despair, because Tim Lord was there with his camcorder to interview organizer Paul McKinney and to point his lens lovingly at pinball machines new and old, complete with whistles and bells, oh my! It was a riotous time, with players of all ages. Pinball machines were played, bought, and sold. There were plenty of exhibitors, including some with shiny-new machines. The most interesting of these may have been Multimorphic, which is making “the world’s first modular, multi-game, pinball platform.” In other words, one machine that can become many games, sort of like a video game console.

Riding the Rails . American Experience

At the height of the Great Depression, more than a quarter million teenagers were living on the road in America, many criss-crossing the country by illegally hopping freight trains. This film tells the story of ten of these teenage hobos — from the reasons they left home to what they experienced — all within the context of depression-era America.

. . Deadly New Bird Flu Virus in China Possibly Linked to Dead Pigs

“Once influenza adapts to pig cells, it is often possible for the virus to take human-transmissible form. That’s precisely what happened in 2009 with the H1N1 swine flu, which spread around the world in a massive, but thankfully not terribly virulent, pandemic.” “As far as any scientists know, the H7N9 forms of flu have never previously managed to infect human beings, or any mammals–it is a class of the virus found exclusively in birds. It is therefore extremely worrying to find two people killed and one barely surviving due to H7N9 infection.”

. . Non-Invasive Mind Control Lets Humans Wag a Rat’s Tail

Let me tell you a mind-bending story about mind control. This is a sci-fi idea that’s quickly becoming a reality as scientists better understand that grey matter between our ears, and this year has been one for breakthroughs. The latest comes from Boston where a Harvard Medical School research team has whipped up a way for a human brain to control a rat’s brain. This so-called brain-to-brain interface enables a human subject to move a rat’s tail without getting wires plugged into her head. That doesn’t mean it’s a simple process. The process starts with a strobe light, of all things. The strobe stimulates the human subject’s brain which then puts out brainwave signals that are picked up by an EEG. The EEG data is then translated into an ultrasonic frequency that’s blasted into the rat’s head. Equipment aside, it’s akin to a kind of telepathy, as it’s fairly non-invasive.

. . Is An Alien Message Embedded In Our Genetic Code?

The answer to whether or not we are alone in the universe could be right under our nose, or, more literally, inside every cell in our body. Could our genes have an intelligently designed “manufacturer’s stamp” inside them, written eons ago elsewhere in our galaxy? Such a “designer label” would be an indelible stamp of a master extraterrestrial civilization that preceded us by many millions or billions of years. As their ultimate legacy, they recast the Milky Way in their own biological image. Vladimir I. shCherbak of al-Farabi Kazakh National University of Kazakhstan, and Maxim A. Makukov of the Fesenkov Astrophysical Institute, hypothesize that an intelligent signal embedded in our genetic code would be a mathematical and semantic message that cannot be accounted for by Darwinian evolution. They call it “biological SETI.” What’s more, they argue that the scheme has much greater longevity and chance of detecting E.T. than a transient extraterrestrial radio transmission.

. . ‘Racist Cake’ Cutting Sparks Outrage

Swedish minister of culture is under fire for her participation in the event.

. . Instagram anti-police pic sharing tied to Montreal arrest

The image, which she photographed about a week ago after spotting it on a brick wall in Montreal’s Hochelaga-Maisonneuve neighbourhood, shows the police commander with a bullet hole in his forehead. His name is also written beside the image. The graffiti has since been removed. Lafrenière is the head of the service’s communications division and frequently appeared in the media during the student protests. Pawluck said she finds the whole situation a bit ridiculous. “I think the person behind the artwork should be in my place … all I did was take a photo,” she said.

. . Tot, 3, ate mother’s LSD sugar

The girl, from Coombabah on the Gold Coast, was rushed to hospital suffering hallucinations, anxiety and convulsions in November, 2011. She initially told her mother she was feeling “big and small” but later at the hospital police overheard the girl begging for help to stop the burning sensation and save her from dying. Court documents revealed the child was heard saying “Mummy, I’m hot. I’m on fire. Help me, mummy” and “I’m going to die”.

. . Videos show Orleans jail inmates with a loaded gun and taking drugs, and one roaming Bourbon Street

Inmates at the now-shuttered House of Detention in Orleans Parish didn’t have to forgo all of their vices, according to videotapes aired during a federal court hearing Tuesday over a proposed consent decree to govern jail reforms in the parish. One inmate is seen shooting up heroin, while others freely snort drugs behind bars and chat on cell phones. Another inmate releases bullets from a long-barreled handgun onto the ground inside the jail, behind bars. In another video, an Orleans Parish jail inmate went out on the town in the French Quarter, chatting up cops and cruising down Bourbon Street. How he got there remains uncertain.

. . Poll: Majority now say pot smoking should be legal

A majority of Americans now support legalizing marijuana use — the first time public support has crossed the 50 percent threshold, according to new polling from the Pew Research Center. Pew found that 52 percent of Americans said marijuana use should be legal, compared to just 45 percent who said it should be illegal. The level of support has jumped 11 percentage points in the last three years. Support is even higher among younger American adults, with nearly two-thirds of Millennials — those born since 1980 — supporting legalization. The findings cheered marijuana advocates, who said politicians need to follow voters’ lead. “Not too long ago, it was widely accepted in political circles that elected officials who wanted to get re-elected needed to act ‘tough’ on drugs and go out of their way to support the continued criminalization of marijuana. The opposite is quickly becoming true,” said Tom Angell, chairman of Marijuana Majority.

. . City Recruits Minority Lifeguards Even if They Can’t Swim

In a staggering case of affirmative action gone wild, officials in a major U.S. city are actually recruiting minorities to be lifeguards at public pools even if they’re not good swimmers. It’s all in the name of diversity. You can’t make this stuff up. It’s a real-life story out of Phoenix, the capitol of Arizona and the nation’s sixth-largest city. It has more than 1.4 million residents and, among its official mottos is “value and respect” of diversity. This means “more than gender and race,” according to the city’s official website. It also encompasses “uniqueness and individuality” and embracing differences. “We put this belief into action to provide effective services to our diverse community.”

. . Bears In Russia Are Addicted To Jet Fuel, Sniff It To Get High And Pass Out

The containers were left in the Kronotsky Nature Reserve and the nearby creatures picked on their strong smell of kerosene and gasoline. The animals love this smell so much that they have begun deeply inhaling the fumes for minutes at a time before digging shallow holes for themselves to lie in once they’ve achieved their desired state.

. . Cat Marnell: Glimpse from the $550,000 book proposal of drug-addict beauty editor

Excerpts from Cat Marnell’s $500,000 book deal have been revealed, and the tell-all memoir, How to Murder Your Life, seems to be an in-depth confessional of her life as a drug addict. The former xoJane.com beauty editor has been in and out of rehab for her addiction to prescription drugs, and was fired from the web site in September last year – telling the New York Post she’d rather ‘smoke angel dust with her friends’ than hold down a full-time job. Now, the 29-year-old, who was also a former beauty editor at Lucky magazine, has released the no holds barred re-cap of her drug-fueled and ‘glamorous’ life in New York.

File under Culture, Graffiti, SeMeN SPeRmS BLArRrG, SeMeN SPeRmS Links 'o Death

Conjured by o~ SeMeN SPeRmS ~o on April 9, 2013

Tags: action, Addicted, Addiction, Alien, American, Angel, Angel Dust, anxiety, Arizona, artwork, Better, Bird Flu, Book, Boston, brain, brainwave, Bullet, Can, Case, cat, child, China, class, Control, Cops, court, Creatures, Culture, Dead, detention, Drug, Drugs, dust, Extraterrestrial, Extremely, Film, Fire, Fired, Flu, Found, French, frequency, Girl, Gold, Graffiti, gun, handgun, High, Home, hospital, How To, Human, Inmates, Interview, jail, Lie, Love, LSD, machine, majority, Marijuana, Media, Medical, Milky Way, mind control, Mother, Murder, Nature, New York, New York Post, NOT, official, person, pinball, Police, post, Pot, prescription, Rehab, Research, Revealed, Russia, scheme, School, Sci-Fi, sensation, Shooting, site, smell, Smoking, snort, Some, spread, stamp, Story, Student, suffering, Teenage, Teenagers, Texas, time, U.S., Ultimate, Universe, University, US, Video, Video game, Virus, World

Mr. Freedom (1969) William Klein – Anti-Imperialist Satirical Farce

Mr. Freedom is a 1969 film by the expatriate American photographer and filmmaker William Klein. Starring the popular French actor Delphine Seyrig, this anti-imperialist satirical farce has cameos by the well-known actors Donald Pleasence and Philippe Noiret, as well as the musician Serge Gainsbourg.

Like his previous film, Who Are You, Polly Magoo?, and reminiscent of the feel of much of Zazie in the Metro, in which Klein is credited as artistic consultant, Mr. Freedom features absurd characters, comical costuming, and exaggeration. The title character’s uniform is an odd assemblage of discarded football gear, face paint, and hockey gloves. The United States Embassy is a department store run by skipping models in spandex, proffering right-wing mercenaries and “Freedom Kits” of high-tech weaponry. Freedom training sessions are Dantian visions of rape and sadism. Every scene aims for the absurd, reaching both for comedic effect and political statement.

Filmed at the height of the Vietnam War and concurrently with the radical political upheaval of 1968 France, Mr. Freedom is a political farce, clearly sympathizing with national liberation and left wing movements. The title character, a stand-in for U.S. political and economic might, is a crude, cruel buffoon in the service of corporations. His rhetoric of freedom stands in cold relief to his actions, which are anything but democratic. The politics get a bit muddled with the characters of Mujick Man, Red China Man, and the FAF, but they would seem to be stand-ins for the Soviet Union, communist China, and the radical milieu of the 1968 uprisings, respectively. Mr. Freedom makes numerous left wing statements on the Cold War, and more specifically, the Vietnam War.

File under Arts 'n Crafts, Blast From The Past, Cult Movies, Culture, Fashion, Influences, Music, Photography, SeMeN SPeRmS Approved, SeMeN SPeRmS BLArRrG, SeMeN SPeRmS ViDeO CLuB, Sex

Conjured by o~ SeMeN SPeRmS ~o on March 31, 2013

Tags: 1960s, 60's, Actor, American, Characters, China, CIA, Cold War, Comic, communist, corporation, crude, Democrat, effect, Face, Face Paint, Film, filmmaker, Freedom, French, Graphic Design, heavy handed, High-tech, Imperial, mercenaries, Mod, Models, Mr. Freedom, Musician, Photographer, Politics, Popular, Psychedelic, Radical, Rape, Sadism, Sadomasochism, scene, SeMeN, SeMeNSPeRmS, Serge Gainsbourg, Service, Soviet, Soviet Union, Spandex, U.S., Uniform, United States, Video, Vietnam, Vietnam War, War, wing

T. Rex – 2 Complete Concerts – Wembley 18th March 1972

Bolan at his best. No question: If there was any doubt in your mind; this proves once and for all that Bolan indeed rocks.

It’s interesting to contrast the two performances; in the 5:30 show the acoustic set is much stronger; in the 8:30 show, the electric stuff is sensational, leading off with a rousing version of CADILLAC. The restoration of the image from 16mm is absolutely first rate; most of the footage was rescued, along with the original stereo recordings, from 100s of rusting film cans in Ringo’s garage.

Marc and the band are in top form, somehow managing to cut through the teenybop adulation with real, loud, rock’n'roll. Whether or not Bolan’s Tolkien-esque lyrics are your cup of tea, Ringo Starr who filmed all this certainly knew enough about pop idols to keep the camera focused on Marc and let the myth take care of itself.

What’s surprising about the Wembley audience is the intensity on fans’ faces, both girls and boys — when Bolan breaks into a wicked version of “Summertime Blues” there’s just a hint of the Sex Pistols’ punk sneer that was just five years away.

5:30 Show

8:30 Show

File under Blast From The Past, Music, SeMeN SPeRmS BLArRrG, SeMeN SPeRmS ViDeO CLuB, Sex

Conjured by o~ SeMeN SPeRmS ~o on March 29, 2013

Tags: 1970s, 70's, Band, Cadillac, Camera, Doubt, electric, England, fan, Film, footage, Girls, Glam Rock, Legend, Live Music, Marc Bolan, Myth, NOT, Original, Pop Music, Punk, Record, Recording, ringo, Ringo Starr, Rock 'n Roll, SeMeN, SeMeNSPeRmS, sensation, Sex, Sex Pistols, Summertime Blues, T.Rex, UK

Skaterdater (1965) The First Skateboard Film

Skaterdater is a 1965 American short film. It was Produced by Marshal Backlar, and written and directed by Noel Black and was the winner of the Palme d’Or for Best Short Film at the 1966 Cannes Film Festival. It was also nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Short Subject category. First prizes in international film festivals including Moscow and Venice.

The film tells a story with no dialogue. The group of boy skaters are suddenly at a point when one of the boys sees a young girl, and becomes interested in her. This causes a rift with the other boys, who challenges him to a skating duel that goes down a hilly street. The young boy loses, however, he gets the girl, and shortly, a few other girls are seen and become interested in the boys, too. The surf rock-esque soundtrack was composed by Mike Curb and Nick Venet with Davie Allan and the Arrows playing “Skaterdater Rock”.

It was the first film on skateboarding. It was distributed theatrically, both domestically and internationally, by United Artists. It was reviewed extensively by media outlets including “Time Magazine”.

The skateboarders were members of the neighborhood Imperial Skateboard Club from Torrance, California. Their names are Gary Hill, Gregg Carrol, Mike Mel, Bill McKaig, Gary Jennings, Bruce McKaig and Rick Anderson. Melissa Mallory played the girl of the interest of one of the boy skaters. Most of the action shots were taken in Torrance, Redondo Beach, and Palos Verdes Estates. The final shot was Averill Park in San Pedro.