THE ELUSIVE MAN - COMPLETE AND UNCUT

THE ELUSIVE MAN from Marc Roussel on Vimeo.

IS IT WORTH IT?

Are enough people visiting this site to make it worth my while to keep posting here? I see almost zero replies to the posts I do put up, and the financial rewards have been, well, ZERO, despite putting some serious man-hours in, more last year than this year, but for no returns at all, really. And this despite, apparently, tens of thousands of people visiting the blog. Are all those numbers provided by Blogger just bullshit tossed up to make us suckers keep plugging away? In other words... IS THERE ANYBODY OUT THERE?!

YOU MIGHT BE A MORMON!

If you buy wedding rings in bulk, then you might be a Mormon.

If you have more siblings than co-workers, then you might be a Mormon. Or a Catholic.

If you've had more doors slammed in your face than I've had hot dinners, then you might be a Mormon.

If your house of worship looks like it was designed by colorblind alien Goths from Disneyland, then you might be a Mormon.

If you've ever detoured miles out of your way, just to avoid having to drive through the sin-crazed metropolis of Branson, MO, then you might be a Mormon.

If you have a favorite Osmond, then you might be a Mormon.

If you think Ken Jennings' winning streak on Jeopardy is proof that LDS is the one true church, then you might be a Mormon.

If anybody in your family is named "Lehi", "Brigham" or "Utah", then you might be a Mormon.

And finally, if riding up in the crotch is the least of your underwear problems, then you might be a Mormon.

IS THIS WHY THEY'RE KEEPING ARIEL SHARON ALIVE?!

I've always found it odd that The Powers That Be in Israel seem so desperate to keep former PM Ariel Sharon alive, despite the fact that he's been in a "persistent vegetative state" since being felled by a massive stroke on January 4, 2006. Contrary to the optimistic pronouncements of Sharon's immediate family, according to doctors, the poor man has essentially been bed-ridden and unresponsive for almost seven years now. I have always found the Jewish people to be very pragmatic in general, not given over to hoping where no hope can realistically exist. So why this insistence on keeping Sharon alive?  

Watch this Youtube video, and see if it doesn't provide an important clue to this mystery...

I'm not saying I believe everything stated in this video. However, I am saying that it's possible some people high up in the Israeli government believe it. And if such is, indeed, the case, what does it mean for our collective future on this planet once Ariel finally does slip free from the bonds of his brutally imposed half-life trapped in a cage of dead flesh?

THE TRIAL OF SOCRATES

Drunkle Orpheus delivers a wonderful memento from those bygone pre-Internet days. He writes:

"Victor Buono stars as Socrates in this educational film (apparently) produced for an Encyclopedia Britannica series called 'Man and the State'. It dramatizes the philosopher's trial and execution, drawn primarily from Plato's 'Apology', and also includes a brief scene referencing Aristophanes' mockery of Socrates in 'The Clouds'. This film was definitely a low-budget affair, but it looks good for what it is. Buono's portrayal is thoughful and subdued, so don't expect any of the bombastic delivery he brought to the 1960's Batman TV show..."

Enjoy!

BRITCOM GENIUS CHRIS MORRIS TOURS C.E.R.N.

There seems to be a trend of comic and/or satirical super-geniuses buddying up with high-tech outfits doing yeoman's work on the bleeding-edge technologies of tomorrow, today! First there was MST3K creator (and one of yer old pal Jerky's Favorite Human Beings Alive) Joel Hodgson being chosen to serve as "Creative Lead for Media" at satellite manufacturing company Cannae.  Now there's this Guardian podcast wherein pitch-black Day Today satirist Chris Morris teams up with C.E.R.N. to discuss the vagaries of gluons, muons and the ever-elusive Higgs boson "God particle". It is very amusing indeed to hear Morris, whose terrifying Day Today newsreader character was equal parts Jeremy Paxman and Alex DeLarge by way of the Krays, ask about heavy science stuff with humility and sincere curiosity, only occasionally allowing humor to creep in to his report... as when he claims one of the scientists that he's interviewing has told him off-air that their experiments might very well bring about the end of the Universe as we know it. This causes an eruption of uncomfortable laughter all 'round. A good, smart listen. Enjoy!

THE SHINING: FORWARDS AND BACKWARDS

What with all the sorcery and witchery surrounding the making of Stanley Kubrick's The Shining - his second most esoteric film after 2001: A Space Odyssey - it should probably come as no surprise that watching it in reverse, superimposed over itself playing normally, should yield such potent symbolic fruits... to the interested and invested viewer, of course. Read this for more information on The Shining: Forwards and Backwards.

DDDIASPORA GOES TO THE MOVIES: EQUINOX!

For this, the first-ever edition of Daily Dirt Diaspora Goes to the Movies!, yer old pal Jerky LeBoeuf has chosen to feature the 1970 occult-themed multiple-monster movie EQUINOX! 

This was a difficult film to get a hold of before its 2006 re-issue as #338 in the much ballyhooed Criterion Collection. Why such a high-falutin' outfit as Criterion would condescend to releasing a deluxe edition of a movie that very few people saw during its initial theatrical run probably has something to do with three things...

First, there is the fact that EQUINOX has long been considered a major influence on cult horror classic Evil Dead, although Sam Raimi, himself, has never acknowledged the debt. Still and all, the demonologist researching a super-evil book that calls forth demonic powers from beyond time, space and dimension, the secluded cabin in the woods, even the showdown on the bridge! It's all there!

Second, the film has garnered a reputation among some fans of stop motion animation as being a more than adequate example of the art form, with a large menagerie of cool looking monsters brought to Harryhausenesque life for our viewing pleasure. 

And, finally, third, there is the involvement (occasionally very tangential) of a number of "interesting" people... everybody from financier/auteur Dennis Muren, who would go on to win 8 Academy Awards for special effects work on movies for the Lucas/Speilberg cabal, legendary horror/sf author Fritz Leiber, who appears as a rogue demonologist without any spoken lines... except for on tape, where his voice was dubbed by none other than Famous Monsters of Filmland maven Forrest J. Ackerman! And of course, EQUINOX is the acting debut of Frank Bonner, a.k.a. WKRP's own Herb frickin' Tarlek, as Joe! All this, and Ed Begley Jr as assistant camera? How could you possibly resist?

So watch now, or forever hold your peace! Those Criterion creeps likely won't let Youtube keep this sucker up for very long, now.

100 MOST ICONIC ARTWORKS OF THE LAST 5 YEARS

I don’t agree with every single choice on the Blouin art-blog's list of the 100 most iconic works of art created over the last half-decade, but there are some moving, stunning, disturbing and just downright impressive pieces and performances on display, here. Peruse at your leisure secure in the knowledge that transcendent art is alive and kicking in our world, today.

NOW THAT'S WHAT I CALL PROG!

JEFFERSONS STAR WAS A BIG LEAGUE HEAD!

Fans of 70's sitcoms know dearly departed Sherman Hemsley as the irascible, forever-irritated star of the beloved and long-running All in the Family spin-off, The Jeffersons. According to this incredible article at Bad Ass Digest, though, he was also a huge fan of some of the most obscure progressive rock acts of the era who cut an (as yet unreleased) album with Yes front-man Jon Anderson and paid for Gong leader Daevid Allen's Jamaican honeymoon. Oh, and he ran an LSD lab and crack cocaine kitchen out of his Hollywood home. There's more, including links to videos of some of Sherman's all-time favorite prog tunes, at the link. So check it out.

ENOUGH WITH THE PLUSH CTHULHU TOYS ALREADY

As a Cthulhu True Believer, I have officially had enough of "plush Cthulhu" and other light-hearted Cthulhu-related photos, Photoshops, videos, meme-squats, etc that have been proliferating across the Internets over the last few years. When every cheap plastic Jesus on every glow-in-the-dark crucifix in every good Catholic's home begins to spurt blood and shriek in agony, and when all the newborns in the world stand up ramrod straight in their cribs to chant in unison in a tongue no one can comprehend, and when half the Pacific turns into a new, rotting continent of writhing, jellied sea-beasts, and when the pitch-black spires of the city of Rlyeh finally rise stabbing toward the stars, and when the doors to His gargantuan crypt open wide, and when every ear on the planet begins to bleed at the Call of His awakening... maybe then people will finally understand why these fluffy little thotchkes are not now, nor have they ever been, cute, adorable or funny.

I, PET GOAT II

This gorgeous animated short by a group of Montreal artists calling themselves Heliofant has inspired a ton of ridiculous, piss-poor analysis by the usual Xian, Illuminati-phobic suspects all over the Interwebs. This incredible piece of work (and I mean that on every level of the word) merits every second of the seven minutes of your undivided attention that it demands. You may watch it here, of course, but I recommend you download it from the source, at the creators' website.

THREE EXCELLENT, HORIZON-EXPANDING BBC MUSIC DOCUMENTARIES

First up, PROG BRITANNIA, an Anglo-centric (and thus, necessarily incomplete) history of Progressive Rock, which recently aired on BBC4. Absolutely essential viewing for one and all.

Not quite so mandatory but still quite instructive and illuminating is KRAUTROCK: THE REBIRTH OF GERMANY, which goes to great lengths to fit this particularly viral and enduring strain of prog into a holistic political and socio-cultural context. Very well done.

And, finally, SYNTH BRITANNIA, a revealing and encyclopedic examination of the history of electronic British music. I was, of course, very satisfied to see that Stanley Kubrick was given his proper due as a ground-breaking trend-setter in this case, having hired electro-musical maverick Wendy/Walter Carlos to produce the haunting, blazing score for his version of Clockwork Orange.

GUEST POST BY BASIL PAPADEMOS! BOOK LAUNCH!

First printed copy... 

Haven't posted in a while. Back in Toronto from SE Asia. I'm here for 6 weeks to launch my novel and like i said on Facebag, compared to Thailand this place is like going to church every fucking day. First thing that struck me is how quiet it is. Noise wise - but also in terms of psychic reverb. It runs at almost imperceptible levels.

I catch the odd spike from individual people but there's no generalized easiness you find over there, when an entire country doesn't give much of a shit about small stuff. Maybe it's cuz large personal financial debt isn't a birthright? Who knows. Whatever it is, coming back to Toronto after 8 months of walking through streets where the sensuality's so thick you can cut it with a machete, this place feels positively eunuchoid. Talk about your cock softening gloom. Well, when everybody's ass is owned by the bank, they must be pretty goddamn sore.

But there are a few glimmers of light. I was watching Steven Leckie, the legendary former Viletones singer, in a YouTube interview and he said something that kind of encapsulates what I'm getting at. He said that these days Marlon Brando's brooding would be considered dysfunctional and something would have to be done about it.

I'm staying with an old friend in High Park and there's something that's just too much to bear about watching these nice young white couples with their nice young white babies and their fuel efficient cars and their overvalued beautiful homes - there's something pathological about them. A kind of unacknowledged hysteria far beneath the surface. You know that statistically speaking, a certain number of them will be pedophiles and psychopaths but at the moment they're happily loading strollers into their sporty new hatchbacks, their officious little wives having given up sexuality for motherhood - too stupid to realize one actually feeds the other.

Hey, maybe everybody just needs a good black and blue and bloody ass-whipping to get their priorities in order. Maybe I'm just biased but it seems to have worked on some friends of mine and me. And I don't mean some fetlife bullshit paddle with rivets and wearing Texas Chainsaw skin mask. I mean a friendly, easy going thing with dad's old black leather belt, made supple and soft with time and use. But that might just be my own personal sense of salvation and won't work for everyone. Oh, well. Their tough luck.

So if you're in Toronto this Wednesday June 6th, come out to the launch party for my new novel, MOUNT ROYAL: there's nothing harder than love. It's at the Revival Bar at 783 College Street, a block or so east of Ossington. Doors open at 7:30pm and I'll be going on at about 8 and there's no cover. I'll read you a bunch of dirty shit and then we can get down to the serious business of drinking, dancing and bullshitting. 

See you there...