AN ALMOST PERFECT SHORT HORROR FILM

I would have chosen a slightly more sinister song to play under the action, while still retaining the bubblegum pop to give it that counterpoint punch, and I would have slowed down the action just a titch more, and I would have ramped up the gore and violence just a touch - maybe fine-tuned the special effects on the "crunch" scene a bit, to make it more visceral and realistic. But otherwise, this is as close to perfect as a low budget short horror film can get. I give it 9/10!

 

M IS FOR MASTICATE from Robert Boocheck on Vimeo.

RUSSELL BRAND ON REVOLUTION

Very interesting interview wherein hirsute, dashing dandy Russell Brand sets the normally unflappable BBC man Jeremy Paxman to flapping... if only for a bit. Anyway, he makes some darned interesting points here, too.

SINS - I DIE, STRANGE ANIMATION BY DAEVE FELLOWS

WES ANDERSON'S THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL GETS A TRAILER

One of yer old pal Jerky's favorite film directors is Texas' own uber-twee auteur, Wes Anderson. From his quirky debut, Bottle Rocket (1996), through the comic mastery of Rushmore (1998), the evocative, hyperconscious designs of The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), his alleged "stumble", the brilliantly funky The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004), his overlooked gem The Darjeeling Ltd (2007) and his first bona-fide box office smash, Moonrise Kingdom (2012), I've loved them all with a simple, uncomplicated love that I really don't feel the need to defend. Of his oeuvre, only The Fantastic Mister Fox (2009) has left me cold. And so it is with great elation that I see Anderson's latest, The Grand Budapest Hotel, now has a trailer. And oh, what a trailer! The cast, the look, the sound and the feels... all seem to point towards vintage Anderson, and that's more than enough to get MY fat ass in the theater. Check it out and tell me you aren't intrigued!

THE LAST HALLOWEEN - PAGE ONE

Just thought I'd share this with y'all. It's the first page of my upcoming horror short comic (and recently wrapped short film), titled The Last Halloween! I hope to be finished the story soon, and I'll let y'all know where you can see it as soon as 1) I finish drawing the story and 2) we finish editing and post-producing the film. In the meantime, I hope this tides you over! Cheers and huzzahs!

GUILLERMO DEL TORO'S SIMPSONS OPENER WITH ALL REFERENCES!

So here is the great director Guillermo Del Toro's wonderful "couch gag" from this season's "Treehouse of Horrors" episode of The Simpsons. Some of the sites claiming to have found "all" the references are missing a few of the subtler ones. Here is MY list of what I believe to be the COMPLETE list of references from this monster of a high quality animated short film in its own freaking right!

IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER!

The Raven (some are saying this is a Game of Thrones reference?)
Night of the Living Dead (or, more accurately, Day of the Dead and other more modern zombie films, including perhaps Planet Terror)
Pacific Rim
The Giant Dead Bird falling from the sky... is it Rodan? Some say Planet of the Vampires. I don't see it.
Psycho house (background)
The Giant Claw (Flying above Donut Boy... three of them! Very subtle!)
7th Voyage of Sinbad Cyclops (eats Donut Boy)
Alfred Hitchcock (feeding The Birds)
The Shining (All Work and No Play)
Steven King
Hellboy Willy (and Kronen)
Blade II (super-vampire)
Blade (Snipes suit)
Godzilla (bones)
Pan's Labyrinth (Burns/Smithers)
Blobs or Bodysnatcher Pods (on supermarket ceiling)
Chronos (devices on checkout)
666 (checkout reader)
Bleeder's Digest / Better Tombs and Gargoyles / The Ghost of Newsweek
Mimic (Giant Roach Checkout Girl)
Mimic (Mom and Eyebrow Baby)
Classic Phantoms (Lon Chaney version, Hammer version, Musical version, Novel version)
Phantom of the Paradise
(Paintings on the wall all refer to older Treehouse episodes!)
Mighty CTHULHU!!!
H.P. Lovecraft
E.A. Poe
Ray Bradbury (and the Illustrated Man)
R.C. Matheson (and one of the zombie vampires from I, Legend)
Universal Monsters:
Frankenstein
Dracula
Wolfman
Mummy
Gillman
Bride of the Monster
Metaluna Mutant from This Island Earth
Invisible Man
The Car (1977) Duel also?
Giant Mutated Fish (The Host maybe?)
Rod Serling
Hellboy 2 Tentacle Beast
Robbie the Robot
Moleman
Hitchcock Silhouette (drawn by Hans Moleman)
London After Midnight Vampire
Skelleton Army from Jason and the Argonauts
Alian Xenomorph
Invasion of the Saucer Men aliens
Ymir
Robot Monster
Time Machine Mutant
The Day The Earth Stood Still (GORT!)
Freaks (Johny Eck and a Pinhead)
The Thing From Another World
Nosferatu
Weird Mine Looking Thing (First Men in the Moon, 60's version?)
The Fly
The Mummy and Invisible Man chillin'
Rondo Hatton
Death Itself
The Devil's Backbone
Alice in Wonderland
Pan's Labirynth (again)

If I missed any, let me know!

WORLD WARS I AND II IN CONTEXT AS FACEBOOK STATUS UPDATES

This featured article over at College Humor is very much worth perusing. It serves as quite an excellent and comedic short-hand overview of the history and context of the 20th century's disastrous first half. It is, of course, lacking in nuance, and is very much beholden to the "exoteric" or "establishment" view of the war, its causes and effects. But that's okay. One must first learn how to navigate the main-stream before diving into the treacherous currents and nebulous rip-tides that make so-called "alternative" worldviews such a dangerous place to swim...

A&E'S BIOGRAPHY EPISODE ON FRANK ZAPPA, ONLINE AT LAST!

"American culture has a lot of great mustaches in its history. Mark Twain had a great mustache; Charlie Chaplin, Ben Turpin. But Zappa... he's got the best mustache in American history. He's got the mustache, right? And then he's got that little thing on his chin. I think it's called an Imperial. That is, like, the coolest thing. That's, like, one of the great icons of 20th century."

- SIMPSONS creator Matt Groening on Frank Zappa's sartorial splendor

MORE PENIS-RELATED ILLUSTRATED COMEDY FOR YOU

This one was also drawn way back in 1994, and also needs to be clicked on to be enjoyed. You may or may not be able to tell that I put a lot less effort in the artwork on this one. I was going for a VIZ Magazine style "funny", which my Brit friends may recognize. Enjoy! - YOPJ

MY OLD PAL ALEX AS BUDDHA IN A 20-YEAR-OLD MUSIC VIDEO

The Canadian alternative rock scene in the mid-1990's was definitely a mixed bag. One of the more interesting bands of the era was the Toronto-based GLUELEG. With their successful 1994 release, Heroic Doses, the band created an intriguing, eclectic, hard-driving sound with excellent percussion and a propulsive, energetic vocal delivery. 

In this song, Mr. Pink, the inclusion of a funky Chapman Stick sound with a heavy-jazz horn section makes for an intriguing listen even now, almost 20 years later. The video for Mr. Pink also happens to feature my good friend Alex P as a gluttonous golden Buddha in a boxing ring. Enjoy!

ATTENTION! THERE ARE SERIOUS PROBLEMS WITH XEROX OFFICE MACHINES!

If you are in a workplace that depends on the proper functioning of Xerox office equipment, then you had better read this damning report about how using the compression settings, even at the highest resolutions, can lead to the random switching around of numbers, which in turn can have potentially deadly consequences, for instance, in medicine, engineering, the pharmaceutical industry and more.

INAPPROPRIATE ADVERTISING OPPORTUNITIES #00321... WTF, SACBEE.COM?!?

This advertising boner spotted at the following URL:
http://www.sacbee.com/2013/07/30/5607195/years-of-caution-about-peanut.html

HAXAN: WITCHCRAFT THROUGH THE AGES

From the Youtube description: 

Originally filmed in 1922, this version was updated in the mid 1960's to include English narration by William S Burroughs. The writer and director Benjamin Christensen discloses a historical view of the witches through the seven parts of this silent movie. 

Burroughs obviously had some say over the translated narration, which is very amusing, and which features Burroughs' trademark take on "language as a virus" early on in the film. Also updated is the entertainingly discordant soundtrack, provided by French violin prodigy Jean Luc Ponty, among other Euro-jazzy session musicians. Worth watching, if you haven't done so already.

DON'T FORGET TO CHECK IN ON THE USELESS EATER BLOG!

The Daily Dirt Diaspora blog's sister-site, Useless Eater Blog, is being updated every day with Paracultural Calendar entries listing all sorts of bizarre, spooky or evil goings-on that transpired on any particular calendar day! The project has been ongoing for the last four months now, and I have no intention of stopping until I have a full year's worth of entries... after which I will be able to recycle every day and ALWAYS have an updated page for y'all! Anyhoo, there's a really gross video of mass murderer Richard Speck showing off the manboobs he grew in prison to please his (ahem) "lovers" behind bars. Viewer beware. It ain't pretty.

UNDERSTANDING THE LATEST ITERATION IN THE EGYPTIAN REVOLUTION

From the introduction to this very informative and succinct breakdown of what's taking place in Egypt these days:

The situation in Egypt is extremely complicated and changing constantly. The arguments between the military and the Muslim Brotherhood go back over half a century and they are much more complicated than the press tends to give them credit for. I just wanted to share a tiny bit of context to help the world understand the different stakeholders, what they want, why they're angry, and why the first democratically elected leader of Egypt lasted so little time...