WHO IS TO BLAME?

This short film by the brilliant VIZ cartoonist Barney Farmer, creator of the Beckett-level strip Drunken Bakers, also scripted a brilliant short film based on another one of his strips, The Male Online, really flew under the radar. But here it is, for your delectation!

SUGGESTED READING LIST ~ NOV 17, 2016

Look, folks, I realize things aren't quite "normal" at this point, if they ever were. And I realize that, more likely than not, the Republicans are getting away with stealing yet another election (about which much, MUCH more in future editions). But what are we gonna do... kill ourselves? Oh, they'd love that, wouldn't they? So no, suicide is not an option at this point, even if only to deny those fuckers the pleasure.

In fact, if there's one thing keeping yer old pal Jerky going at this point*, it's the promise of a day soon to come... a day upon which I will get to witness one or more of these pridefully ignorant, fascist fecal golems - these Satanically animated piles of festering moral rot conjured to rancid life via some obscure Nazi witchcraft - get what's coming to them. The incredulous look in Stephen Bannon's rheumy, bloodshot eyes as he's being dragged out of his home by the authorities due to his penchant for [REDACTED] and his [REDACTED] "hobby" will be indescribably glorious.  

Good times are coming. All we have to do is wait. The bad guys have cornered themselves at the top, and there's nowhere for them to go... but down.  In the meantime, here are some interesting links to help while away the wait! - YOPJ

***

1. Okay, so now that I've tried to lift your spirits a bit with the promise of juicy scandals to come, above, along comes Neal Gabler with possibly the most depressing, despairing, and accurate post-election summary that I've read so far. You must read it, and you must pass it along to your friends, whom you must get to read it. It reads in part:

If there is a single sentence that characterizes the election, it is this: “He says the things I’m thinking.” That may be what is so terrifying. Who knew that so many tens of millions of white Americans were thinking unconscionable things about their fellow Americans? Who knew that tens of millions of white men felt so emasculated by women and challenged by minorities? Who knew that after years of seeming progress on race and gender, tens of millions of white Americans lived in seething resentment, waiting for a demagogue to arrive who would legitimize their worst selves and channel them into political power? Perhaps we had been living in a fool’s paradise. Now we aren’t. 

This country has survived a civil war, two world wars, and a great depression. There are many who say we will survive this, too. Maybe we will, but we won’t survive unscathed. We know too much about each other to heal. No more can we pretend that we are exceptional or good or progressive or united. We are none of those things. Nor can we pretend that democracy works and that elections have more or less happy endings. Democracy only functions when its participants abide by certain conventions, certain codes of conduct and a respect for the process. 

The virus that kills democracy is extremism because extremism disables those codes. Republicans have disrespected the process for decades. They have regarded any Democratic president as illegitimate. They have proudly boasted of preventing popularly elected Democrats from effecting policy and have asserted that only Republicans have the right to determine the nation’s course. They have worked tirelessly to make sure that the government cannot govern and to redefine the purpose of government as prevention rather than effectuation. In short, they haven’t believed in democracy for a long time, and the media never called them out on it.

Democracy can’t cope with extremism. Only violence and time can defeat it. 

Read the rest. Then read it again. Then forward it to everyone you think needs to read it, and make sure they do. Talk about it, quiz them on it, shit like that. 

***

2. One of Deadspin's sub-blogs, Concourse, has a magically delirious array of photographs from Donald Trump's first day as President Elect, photos that prove he doesn't like this any more than we do! Seriously, the man looks positively petrified... that is, when he isn't putting on one of his other two favorite post-election faces: profoundly confused, or deeply disinterested. As article author Ashley Feinberg puts it:

Donald Trump likes going to rallies. He likes hearing people scream his name in ecstasy while calling for the imprisonment and death of his enemies. He likes going on TV. He likes hearing about how high the ratings were after he goes on TV. He likes grabbing women by the pussy and moving on them “like a bitch.” 

What Donald Trump does not like, however, is keeping his promises, sitting still for more than five minutes at a time, or doing any kind of work whatsoever, tedious or otherwise. It’s probably why so many of his business ventures were spectacular, blistering failures over the years. 

But unfortunately for Donald Trump and everyone else in the world save Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump is about to be the president. And as miserable as it is for us, there is one small, saving grace amidst the despair: Donald Trump looks like he wants to die.

She's not even remotely joking about this; the man looks like he's aged half a decade in a couple of days. His hair is whiter, his skin is translucent, he's just generally lumpier and blotchier... it's not a good look. As he might himself tweet: "Not good. Not good."

***

3. And finally for today, I bring you a couple of short films by District 9 director Neil Blomkamp in honor of Donald Trump's election! Unfortunately, the films are on his Instagram, and I can't figure out how to embed them here. They're among the most recent items on the page, though, so they're easy enough to find. Then I went to Youtube and found a couple different versions of his videos (embedded below) but these have different music, so I'm assuming they're the product of someone who is unaffiliated with Mr Blomkamp, and who is using his content without permission. I like the bootlegger's music choices, though, gotta admit! Anyway, to find out more about this ongoing project, check out this AV Club link. Ciao for now.

* Two if you count the new Kong: Skull Island trailer.

MEXICAN ARTIST MAKES FILM ABOUT CURRENT EVENTS

SUGGESTED READING LIST ~ OCT 30, 2016

1. What do Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, Ken Russell's Altered States, Gaspar Noe's Enter the Void and the Mitchell Bros. 70's porno classic Behind the Green Door all have in common? They're all on this Taste of Cinema list of 25 Psychedelic Movies That Are Worth Your Time! And what qualifies the aforementioned flicks as "psychedelic", you ask? List compiler Esther Zelig is happy to explain, before launching into a description of Dali and Bunuel's seminal surrealist short film Un Chien Andalou, thusly:

Psychedelia in film is characterized by distortion (both in image and in sound), experimentation in narrative and editing, and sometimes drug-inspired hallucinations. Like the psychoactive drugs which produce heightened sensory perceptions and distortion, psychedelic films present to their audience an unfamiliar and/or dream-like view of reality. 

The following films use cinematography, narration, editing, sound design, and music to create worlds of distortion. Whether the film is depicting drug-induced madness or creating an atmosphere of existential confusion, these films somehow experiment with the audience’s sensory perceptions in order to uproot the viewer from reality. These films welcome (or in some cases, force) the audience to interact with a plethora of psychedelic imagery, sounds, and/or narration.

Despite a couple of nonsensical entries - Point Blank and Wake in Fright are both fine films, but can they really be called psychedelic? - this is an outstanding list, and makes a worthy guide for any budding cinemaphile in search of "the good stuff". And speaking of "the good stuff"...

Just look at that face!

2. It will come as no surprise to regular readers of this blog that I occasionally use it to promote my "real world" projects, as well as those of my friends and associates, if and when I deem them worthy. Like, for instance, with my ongoing attempts to break into the film world, usually by partnering with - or piggybacking onto - my oldest and best friend Marc Roussel. And that is why I was so pleased to see Marc getting some well deserved critical appreciation from the folks at BloodyWhisper.com, in the form of a career-spanning overview! Written by Ernie Fink and published this week, this virtual tongue bath of praise begins thusly:

There are many good things that come from Canada. This filmmaker may be one of the best. 

Based in Toronto, Mr. Roussel has a diverse resume of films to his credit. Although his strongest suit seems to be horror, his versatility has shown in both crime drama and romance. He has the ability to pull a variety of emotional strings is so effective that he cannot be matched by most. He is also downright terrifying.  

His films Remote and The Elusive Man have won awards at various festivals and he had been nominated for the Director’s Guild of Canada award. He has also found success as an editor on many televisions shows.

Adding to my pride at seeing my best bud be treated so well is the fact that I, myself, took part in the creation of many of Marc's most successful films, from our early contest entry Sweet Tooth, to our most recent BravoFACT project, The Last Halloween, and a few in between! Furthermore, it is my most sincere hope that the two of us get to do more work together, perhaps including some work that makes us some goddamn MONEY one of these days! Anyhoo, keep watching this space for developments. In the meantime: Marc, old pal o' mine, I join BloodyWhispers.com in saluting you!

3. Well, that was fast! Remember the second item from our previous DDD Suggested Reading List, wherein we informed you of the death of Jack Chick, creator of those ironically popular Chick Tract evangelical mini-comics you could occasionally find in diner booths, bus stop benches, and other public places? Well, someone has created a fully illustrated Chick Tract about what happened when Jack Chick Got To Heaven... and it's very much in keeping with the Chick Tract tradition.

INTERESTING BALL, A SHORT FILM BY DANIELS

Interesting Ball from DANIELS on Vimeo.

THE LAST HALLOWEEN: COMIC AND FILM STILLS SET TO SCORE

This is pretty great. My long-time creative partner Marc Roussel, who directed the short film version of my 8 page comic The Last Halloween based on a script we co-wrote, has put together a video to showcase our film's amazing score, which was created by our friend and frequent collaborator Christopher Guglick, pairing it with stills from the film and pages from my comic. Thanks, Marc... Now it's time to get back to work on our next batch of projects!

SUGGESTED READING LIST ~ FEB 3, 2016

1. Set aside a couple hours to check out this century-plus overview of American comedy as assembled and curated by a team of comedy "experts" at Vulture.com. It purports to identify the 100 jokes, sketches or comedy moments that shaped a century of funny. While there are some entries here that I wouldn't have chosen, especially some of the new millennium selections, it's still very much worth checking out. Maybe I'll try my hand at assembling an alternate group of self-declared experts in order to put together a list of our own. Selections and volunteers appreciated.

2. Once you're done wasting half your day with the above overview of American comedy, why not spend the OTHER half wasting it with this encyclopedic overview of the greatest electronic music albums of the 1950's and 60's? Article author Joseph Morpurgo sets the ground rules:

The great electronic albums of the 1970s get plenty of kudos – but what of their predecessors? Casual accounts of the history of electronic music tend to point back to familiar sources: Suicide’s babble’n’hum; Cluster, Klaus Schulze and the rest of the Krautrock squad; the stygian mulch-music of early Cabaret Voltaire and Throbbing Gristle; and of course Kraftwerk’s meticulous robot pop. Further back? Well, that’s when things tend to get a little foggy. Experiments with recorded electronic music actually date back to the 1940s (hell, depending on how you define “electronic music”, they date back to the 1880s). As early as the mid-1950s, predominantly electronic LPs were already being pressed, marketed and sold to the a willing (if slightly confused) public. Half a century down the line, many of these records still sound fantastic. Some are fascinating relics with plenty to say to the contemporary listener; others sound impossibly ahead of their time. ... Ground rules set – and inevitably occasionally broken – here they are: 15 essentials from electronic music’s Big Bang.

Check it out. No matter your tastes, you're all but guaranteed to find something that appeals to your particular, personal brain circuitry.


3. If you haven't seen The Answers yet, you're missing out on a pretty great, inventive, emotionally potent short film. Everything about this production, from the writing, to the acting, to the production values, is top notch. As a short film maker myself, I'm always encouraged when I see real, honest, worthwhile effort put into one. Kudos to everyone involved. You can watch it here and now: