I'm Out

If you didn't know, this is what a good champagne buzz is supposed to look like. I know because I've got class.

(Via If Charlie Parker. . .)

1943

You're welcome.

Berlin 1989

Now here's a bunch of people having a goddamn good time.

(via)

Happy New Year, Damnit

When you're out there in the wild, getting drunk and tarring your lungs to an early grave, take heed, be a little cautious, and try not to end up here.

And That's All There Is

I'm taking a break 'til New Years.

Night.

Santa's Last Stand

Golden Books were an amazing thing. Everything now is digital and terrible and rapidly running out of an irreplaceable resource. I feel bad for children now. They'll never know a world without the war on terror or global warming or lady gaga. It's all going down the drainpipe at a thousand miles and hour. Doomed. They're all doomed!

Merry Christmas.

Hey you!

Read this comic.

It's a delight. A Dee. Light.

Noel

(From Fantomatik)

Merry Whatevermas!

(Golden Age)

Words to Drink By

America… just a nation of two hundred million used car salesmen with all the money we need to buy guns and no qualms about killing anybody else in the world who tries to make us uncomfortable.

— Hunter S. Thompson

(From The Selvedge Yard)

David Simon is a Wonder

He also gives a good interview.

And look how much story they were able to tell. We were getting more than that for each season. So goddamn it, you better have something to say. That sounds really simple, but it’s actually a conversation that I don’t think happens on a lot of serialized drama. Certainly not on American television. I think that a lot of people believe that our job as TV writers is to get the show up as a franchise and get as many viewers, as many eyeballs, as we can, and keep them. So if they like x, give them more of x. If they don’t like y, don’t do as much y.

How can you not want to read the rest of that interview? It's a man directly responsibly for the best show of the past ten years. For your sake, don't you want to give him twenty minutes of your time?

And plus, it's Vice. Vice is fun, damnit.

Warren Ellis linked the same interview a couple of days ago as well (it's where I stole the lede from), but he also goes on to comment about his own writing process and what can be good for that. And he's no slouch in that department either. Sure he writes comics while pickled to his ears with Red Bull and nicotine, but, goddamn, what comics!

Neither of these men are particularly photogenic though, are they?

Merry Christmas from the Luftwaffe

Aw, shucks. It's almost heart-warming until you realize these guys are probably all dead.

(Found here)

HEY GO BUY SOMETHING

Here's 60 books on movies, ranging from interesting to completely mind-boggling! So, come on! Buy something already!

Inside of Zoe Deschanel's Head

It's like this twenty-four hours a day. Occasionally a cat walks through and sleeps on a guitar behind the tiger.

I'm posting this because it reminded me of the pulp novel cover I posted yesterday. . . also I want you all to share in this breath taking feat of scientific engineering.

(Probably from the Avant Garde Fashion Blog)

Word to the Wise

The Criterion Collection just put another 35 movies onto Netflix's Instant Watch.

Exciting times.

(Edit: Why did I say "27?" Where did I get that from?)

Chew on this, Faulkner

(I'm pretty sure this was found at this isn't happiness, but I'd have much rather found it at a used book store)

Director Duesday, Part Duex!

I wonder, just how cool do you think he thinks he is act this exact moment?

Director Duesday!

(From Cinema Styles)

And You Thought You Had it Rough

Well, this guy gave himself an appendectomy.

An appendectomy is Soviet Russia, no less.

This Photo is Perfect

(If Charlie Parker Was a Gunslinger)

Lee Marvin Mondays!

They don't build posters like they used to anymore.

Or film noir with pretensions of European art cinema anymore.

Or guys named "Lee."

Or cars.

Or anything, really.

The present sucks.

Lee Marvin Mondays!

Now there's a talent. With a nose like that, you know he had to know something no one else did.

(Pulled from Cinema is Dope, obviously)

Oh no!

This is entirely my fault!

I leave my internship and a week later the place goes broke! If only I could take it back!

Today in Violent History

It's the anniversary of everyone's favorite atavist secret intelligence agency-- The Cheka!

The Cheka, as I'm sure you already know, were the right hand of Soviet Russia since the start of the revolution in 1917. They were personally created by Vladmir Lenin and went on to be party to some of the most horrifically violent events of the early 1920's.

They didn't care who they killed. Anarchists, thieves, the literate, land owners, whoever. They killed them by the bucket load, because, better to kill a thousand men than let one guilty man go free.

It was during the Red Terror that the Cheka, hoping to avoid the bloody aftermath of having half-dead victims writhing on the floor, developed a technique for execution known as the Nackenschuss, a shot to the nape of the neck, which caused minimal blood loss and instant death. The victim's head was bent forward and the executioner fired slightly downward at point blank range. This had become the standard method used later by the NKVD to liquidate Stalin's purge victims and others.

Trend setters, they were.

By 1922, the Cheka was transformed into a section of the NKVD, one of the Soviets' many internal police organizations. The NKVD though, despite its much less charming name, went on to perpetuate the spirit of the Cheka, murdering the opponents of Soviet Socialism by the tens of thousands.

Anyways, today is their anniversary, and I think it's time that we look at a great organization and its contribution to a better world!

Bowie: The Coke Years

I love this photo, but what is almost as amazing is how high Bowie is in the interview below.


Apparently this interview specifically was used for James Urbaniak's impression of Bowie in the Venture Bros.

He's great, though, isn't he?

(Bowie found here)

(Originally inspired by here)

(Let's not ever forget that all of this shit is yanked from somewhere else)

Batman Has Got Style

. . . And he's got dirty, horrible needs.

(The Best Damned Comics of 2009)

(Originally stolen from this isn't happiness)

Paul Pope: Still Cool

(via Pulp Hope)

MY MUSE IS NOT A HORSE

MY MUSE IS NOT A HORSE AND I AM IN NO HORSE RACE AND IF INDEED SHE WAS, STILL I WOULD NOT HARNESS HER TO THIS TUMBREL - THIS BLOODY CART OF SEVERED HEADS AND GLITTERING PRIZES.

(Words by Nick Cave)

(Art by Paul Pope)

Sandhogs

Sandhogs is an original portal to the unseen characters and systems of underground New York—revealing the essential “art form” of mining in the modernized city. Excavation of City Water Tunnel #3 began in 1970. For each mile tunneled, approximately one Sandhog has lost his life in a mining related accident. In 2003 Gina LeVay was granted rare access to photograph the “hogs,” in the tunnel and at off-site locations. Here are images from her newly released book, Sandhogs, published by Powerhouse.

© All Photographs by Gina LeVay

Photos like this remind me that, as bad as things may appear to be, at least I'm not hundreds of feet underground mining my way towards a likely death or dismemberment. I mean, all told, community college isn't that bad.

(The whole thing found here)

Tumblr-- You're on Notice!

It’s strange, sad, and indefensible that 95% of image Tumblrs do not credit, link, or share their source in anyway.

--Atley G. Kasky ((via the Constant Siege) via this isn’t happiness)

If I'm posting this, I should probably practice it.

Father Christmas

What a good idea.

This is the kind of Christmas song I can support. First off: It's a kick ass song by a kick ass band. Secondly: I haven't heard this song six thousand fucking times.

Bad Dudes in Time

General Sam Browne was a character I was constantly reading about in the various history books on the Second Anglo-Afghan War. What I found odd was in just about every book I read, whenever his name is first mentioned, a parathentical almost immediately follows it delcaring: (Inventor of the belt of the self-same name) or some other equally trivial phrase, as though I should have any clue as to what the hell that is.

Well, enough was finally enough and I looked up what it was.

According to wikipedia (the most reputable source for lazy scholars), Sam Browne invented the belt because his scabbard was constantly getting loose and he was unable to draw it. This was a problem because he lost his left arm in the Indian Mutiny. He fixed this conundrum by adding a second belt that would run across the shoulder and connect to the left hip. With the second strap securely in place, he could draw a saber without having to steady it first.

Basically Sam Browne is such a bad mother fucker that after he lost his arm killing folks in a war, he invented a belt for the sole purpose of being able to kill more dudes. Most soldiers, upon losing an arm, typically quit the whole affair, but not Sam Browne. He found a way to make things work.

Good for him.

Also, have you ever seen a photo of a man that was more likely to have killed Indians than this man?

You Heard it Here First

I bet he didn't have a collection of detective fiction in his garage, too.

(via Modern Mechanix)

Great Books I Own

This is one of about a dozen books (some better than others) I pulled out of this gay guy's garage in Seal Beach's. He was moving out of the state so he couldn't bring his detective fiction collection with him, a collection which literally covered about three walls of the garage plus an entire closet. Maybe he just couldn't afford real insulation.

Wow, Thanks Science

Do go on.

I never thought about this until now, but I've never seen an ad for poison in my entire life.

That seems odd. I mean, who has a problem with killing rats. I know if I had rat killing technology, I would tell everyone about it.

(via Modern Mechanix)

Ghosts of Shopping Past

You know, it's times like the holidays when we should all sit down and think about how these tough economic times, when you get down to it, are hurting the most. Give a little. You know they need it.

Ghosts of Shopping Past.

BEING A MAN

Not that I'm an expert, but I'm fairly certain it has everything to do with holding a shotgun and riding on the front of the train while you're screaming like a maniac and also probably drunk off your ass.

And doing it in black and white.

Someone Has Been Stealing My Dreams Again

First there was No Country For Old Men, which took my favorite director and my favorite author and threw them together, then I heard about how PT Anderson's new movie is going to be about the birth of Scientology and stars Philip Seymore Hoffman.

Now there's going to be a Mel Gibson directed viking epic written by the guy that did The Departed and staring Leonardo DiCaprio. It has to be. Two Catholic boys and one of the better actors of this generation are going to get together and make something about seafaring Nordic reavers? Hells yes. It's just insane enough to work.

As far as dreams deferred, though, I am still reeling about Ridley Scott and the guy that wrote The Departed not making Blood Meridian after all. That stung.

Chew on this, Faulkner

Again, this is what a real book looks like. You can take all of your post-modernism and stream of consciousness and allusions and cram it, because this is real, damn literature.

Gotta Fight For Your Right

People don't know how to party any more. It's a crying shame, that.

Nedroid

Nedroid is a web comic writer and artist and he makes delightful strips about two characters called Beartato and Reginald.

Anyways, so far I think this is my favorite comic of theirs.

Lynch on Jedi

I'm not a huge fan of David Lynch, but I respect him for the same reason that he respects George Lucas. He's a guy who knows what he's doing and he loves what he does. That's cool. The fact that he's critically successful and somewhat financially successful for doing so is even cooler. So good for him.

Then again I love Lost Highway, so it isn't as though I dislike the man.

From the Brain That Brought You Godzilla Bukkake

Here's apparently how Warren Ellis writes his comic books.

It's an insane looking process, but it's encouraging because it doesn't look too unlike my own process.

Kind of Scary, Kind of Fun

Apparently the Russian government or organized crime is helping the Iranian government's internet problems.

It's like a news story tailor made for me.

Aw Shucks

The internet sure knows what I want when I want it.

Scott and Shackelton Expedition

Photos from the historic Scott and Shackleton expedition to Antarctica.

Even if the photos weren't beautiful (and they are), this is the kind of thing that blows me away.

Dylan on Lennon

It's muddled, it's murky, it's kind of a wank, and you've probably seen it before, but here's Bob Dylan and John Lennon hanging out while utterly wasted in the back of a chauffeured car.

Great Books I Own

This is my book. I own it.

And those two hamsters do no trust each other, not at all.

Jammin' With Bridges

“They had no script, man,” Bridges exclaims. “They had an outline. We would show up for big scenes every day and we wouldn’t know what we were going to say. We would have to go into our trailer and work on this scene and call up writers on the phone, ‘You got any ideas?’ Meanwhile the crew is tapping their foot on the stage waiting for us to come on.”

Bridges, director Jon Favreau and Robert Downey Jr. would literally act out sequences during primitive rehearsals, Downey taking on Bridges’s role and vice versa, to find and essentially improvise their way to full scenes, the actor recounts. Bridges says that the entire production was probably saved by the improv prowess of the film’s director and star.

“You’ve got the suits from Marvel in the trailer with us saying, ‘No, you wouldn’t say that,’” Bridges remembers. “You would think with a $200 million movie you’d have the shit together, but it was just the opposite. And the reason for that is because they get ahead of themselves. They have a release date before the script, ‘Oh, we’ll have the script before that time,’ and they don’t have their shit together.

“Jon dealt with it so well,” Bridges continues. “It freaked me out. I was very anxious. I like to be prepared. I like to know my lines, man, that’s my school. Very prepared. That was very irritating, and then I just made this adjustment. It happens in movies a lot where something’s rubbing against your fur and it’s not feeling right, but it’s just the way it is. You can spend a lot of energy bitching about that or you can figure out how you’re going to do it, how you’re going to play this hand you’ve been dealt. What you can control is how you perceive things and your thinking about it. So I said, ‘Oh, what we’re doing here, we’re making a $200 million student film. We’re all just fuckin’ around! We’re playin’. Oh, great!’ That took all the pressure off. ‘Oh, just jam, man, just play.’ And it turned out great!”

The whole thing can be found at In Contention.

Oh, right.

1980 was not a great year, was it?

Hong Kong

(Found here.)

A List of Another 50 Things

This time, the list is of 50 of the most interesting articles on Wikipedia.

Read and behold the triviality of the internet.

The 50 Best Protest Signs of 2009

The great thing about our democracy is that it allows anyone-- crazy ol' anyone-- to take to the streets and let their voice be heard. In other countries shit like that can get a person executed or have sex-starved militia stomp in their heads or be spirited away to an unnamed, unlisted prison. But not here. So, consider yourself lucky that we live in a nation where even the most poorly thought out and ignorant thoughts are legally protected.

The down side is we have to hear about it.

Then again, sometimes you get protest sings like these. It kind of makes it all worth while.

Oh, right.

That is today, isn't it?

Fuck Bono

Fuck Bono in his narrow, Hibernian asshole.

Le Doulos

Jean-Pierre Melville is a great director, but I understand if Le Samourai is a bit too much to take in (most people can't handle that kind of concentrated cool in one sitting, their modern brains simply give up). Le Doulos isn't as good as Le Samourai, but it's faster moving and it's a bit shorter. Basically, it's the perfect primer for anyone who wants to get into French films that aren't a part of the new wave.

Santa, No!

I'm glad that someone else out there has the hobby of finding frightening and inappropriate pictures of Santa Claus. It's always a good feeling to know you share your sickness with another person. But I guess that is what the internet is for.

(Santa, NO!)

Albino Alligator

Do I need much to contextualize a weird looking living fossil? Well, I guess I just did it anyways.

Alligators are great animals. They're basically living dinosaurs and if it wasn't for firearms, they'd grow up to thirty feet long. It's a shame they've been wasted on Florida.

Bang, Clyde!

I hate Godard in a way that I hate few people. It isn't a strong hate or anything, it's just a very specific kind of hate. The kind of hate I reserve for snooty French directors who have squandered their talent and wit by disappearing up their own ass, only to reappear to make fun of people that like cinema-- people that once used to be like snooty French directors who have squandered their talent by disappearing up their own ass only to reappear as some kind of new, fresh species of asshole.

If there's a word for that, let me know.

Hole-Lee Shit

I didn't know there was a hamster shaped hole in my life until now.

(Bonus points: That doctor is one of my film professors. Why would he not tell the world he was in a hamster movie?)

Real Literature

This is what a book should be. All the rest can get fucked.

Other Countries Are Terrible

Want to ruin your day, but in the course of doing so, learn about how horrible women are treated all over the world? Well, if you still want to (or don't want to), you should read this little excerpt, here:

Acid attacks and wife burnings are common in parts of Asia because the victims are the most voiceless in these societies: They are poor and female. The first step is simply for the world to take note, to give voice to these women.” Since 1994, a Pakistani activist who founded the Progressive Women’s Association (www.pwaisbd.org) to help such women “has documented 7,800 cases of women who were deliberately burned, scalded or subjected to acid attacks, just in the Islamabad area. In only 2 percent of those cases was anyone convicted.

If you want to read something enlightening and see some horrible, horrible images, then click here.

They're beautiful cultures, though. We mustn't judge.

"It's what we Americans call a 'plug.'"

This is amazing. Start listening. It only gets better.

Now aren't you happy you did that?

I'm Deranged

It's safe to say I don't quite get David Lynch, but I do get this movie. I get it quite well and I enjoy just as much. Maybe it's just a testament to the strength of a well applied Bowie song, but I dig the heck out of Lost Highway.

This is What a Good Time Looks Like

CHANGE YOUR DEFINITION ACCORDINGLY

The Beast

When you're wounded an' left on Afghanistan's plains
An' the women come out to cut up your remains
Jus' roll to your rifle an' blow out your brains
An' go to your Gawd like a soldier.

--Rudyard Kipling

The Beast is a movie I accidentally discovered through a Google search, and like many things you stumble onto through the internet, it hasn't exactly blown my socks off. The reason I picked it up, though, is because I was searching for pictures of Afghan muskets (jezails), and I managed to uncover this website, the IMFDB, the Internet Movie Firearm Database.

IMFDB is a wiki that consists solely of identifying guns used in movies. As handy as a source like this is, I'm still a bit shocked that someone actually came up with this idea and followed through on it.

Anyways, the movie is about the Afghan-Russian War that took place during the 1980's, so naturally I sent it to the top of my queue.

This is a choice I am now regretting. The movie isn't great. The accents of the movie's Russians are driving me nuts and so far the one thing I'm digging the most is this goateed mujahideen who wears a bunch of medals and aviators and rides around on a motorcycle. I don't know about you, but there's a certain charm in watching sleazy middle eastern dudes cavort around third-world hell holes that I find endearing. Charming, even.

In summary: Rudyard Kipling is boss as hell. Just look at the man spell "God."

Sea Romance!

Not that I feel an immense need to go there, I love ice, especially ice on the ocean. Anything with arctic or antarctic ice can get me instantly interested. I have a distant relative that was killed in a journey to the North Pole in the 19th century, so I guess that combined with the fact that getting hail is a rarity in this part of California, I find ice and snow to be exotic.

You can imagine how I felt when I found out that Werner Herzog had a documentary about the only city on Antarctica. I was giddy, to put it politely.

Lest Ye Forget

Iran is still a super fucked up country.

Thank God they aren't trying to secure anything that could kills thousands instantly and potentially destabilize the entire balance of the world. That could be serious trouble if anything like that ever happened!

Bonus: Apparently the military regime in Tehran is using Facebook to threaten dissidents outside of the country.

Not Quite Ready For Siberia Players

Bears are pretty awesome. Pass it on.

(Found at English Russia)

(Update: Even Warren Ellis likes these photos.)

Born to Kill

(Matt Bors: Artiste)

Goddamn, Persia

That's a hell of a way to waste a dude.

Goddamn.

In Black and White Everything Looks Better

I mean, just look at it.