Saturday, October 31, 2015
But it was last week’s films that separate the true cinephiles from the film enthusiasts from the not-yet-ready-for-prime-timers. We just completed “Avant Garde Week,” and I showed my students films that, despite having been made nearly 90 years ago, haven’t lost any of their power to induce strong reactions.
Tags: film , movie , what i'm watching , anemic cinema , marcel duchamp , duchamp , avant garde , puns , Video , Web Only
Friday, October 30, 2015
In a recent email to Seven Days, Wright notes that the band has been keeping details of its Halloween set close to the vest. But as All Hallow's Eve draws nearer, members have started dropping some hints. It appears the band is planning a Star Wars theme. (That sound you're hearing is local drummer and supreme Star Wars buff Frankie Zee giggling like a schoolboy. Settle down, Frank.)
Fittingly, Wright will be dressed as Princess Leia — in a costume sewn by her mother, no less. And the rest of the band will be similarly decked out in Star Wars regalia, including Storm Troopers and robots. We have no other inside info here, but guitarist Bob Wagner pretty much has to be Chewbacca, right?
Tags: Kat Wright & the Indomitable Soul Band , Star Wars , Jake Whitesell , Brett Hughes , Halloween , Image , Web Only
Thursday, October 29, 2015
Directed by Mike Mooney and shot by Tim Bradley — with some magnificent aerial footage by Total Production Designs, to boot — the woodsy vid boasts the highest production value of any Madaila short to date. It also has the strongest narrative thread of any of their previous videos. Think Lord of the Flies crossed with Monty Python & the Holy Grail, add a hint of old-time Baptist revivalism and you're in the neighborhood. Also, neon face paint. And glow sticks.
Wednesday, October 28, 2015
As far as carving jack-o'-lanterns goes, some people can only manage the classic "triangle eyes" design, or prefer not to wield knives at all. But Ashley Campbell of Campbell Carvings is not one of them. This year, the co-owner of Shelburne's Rustic Roots restaurant has put her prodigious carving skills to work creating an ephemeral masterpiece of socialist portraiture.
Tags: Senator , pumpkins , jack-o'-lanterns , halloween , ashley campbell , rustic roots , Bernie Sanders , presidential campaign , Image , Web Only
Saturday, October 24, 2015
UHF was a key feature of “The Rotation,” a group of a few dozen films that my high school friends and I would watch again and again. (Most of the others on that list were similarly goofy comedies such as Fletch, the various Monty Python films and the Naked Gun films [in all three of which Al plays a small part]. What can I say? We were nerdy.) UHF is highly quotable (“I’m thinking of something orange. Something ORANGE!”) and contains exactly the right amount of silliness to stand up to multiple viewings — whether the person doing the viewing is 16 or 42.
Tags: UHF , film , movie , what i'm watching , weird al , weird al yankovic , parody , comedy , persona , narrative , Image , Video , Web Only
Friday, October 23, 2015
A1: Cathy honed her charcuterie skills working at L'Epicerie du Bordel in Manhattan.
A2: Scientists are trying to hone in on the causes of premature balding syndrome.
B1: His hands were calloused from his work restoring historic Vermont gravestones.
B2: The zombie apocalypse has not made Rick Grimes callous about human life.
Tags: rein , reign , callus , callous , callused , calloused , hone , home , grammar , usage , words , Image , Web Only
Thursday, October 22, 2015
Bernie Sanders Plays The Bongos To Ben Harper's ‘Burn One Down’Bernie breaks it down with "Burn One Down."
Posted by The Huffington Post on Wednesday, October 21, 2015
Obviously, the title of Harper's earnest stoner ballad makes the song rife for a Sanders parody. And that proves doubly true given the weed legislation segment of the debate, which HuffPo video editors Oliver Noble and Ben Craw handle masterfully. But the real brilliance of HuffPo's video is that it tweaks a key Sanders trait that most parodies have thus far overlooked: his emphatically percussive gesticulation. Brilliant.
Click here to watch the video on HuffPo.
Tags: Senator , Bernie Sanders , Huffington Post , Ben Harper , Presidential Campaign , Image , Recommended Reading , Web Only
Saturday, October 17, 2015
Kathleen's ever-present rose scent, her brassy laugh, her determined stride and rose topped cane were a fixture in town. She babysat the neighborhood kids, invited people into her cozy home and welcomed new artists to the area. Kathleen constructed fanciful hats for the Fools' Gold Art Auction, designed costumes for the Spielpalast Cabaret and sewed many intricate wedding dresses. She was a gifted artist, a talented seamstress and someone who loved beautiful things.
When Kathleen spoke to you, she really seemed to see you. She looked directly into your eyes, dispensing with artifice. She was genuine and strong-willed. Despite her petite height, she projected the glamor of a movie star; her personality was larger than life. Kathleen loved you madly and left lipstick kisses on your cheek and the scent of roses on your clothes after an embrace.
Tags: kathleen de simone , arts , culture , burlington , spielpalast cabaret , Video , Image , Web Only
Free copies of the magazine's first two issues — for September and October of this year — were in ample supply. Just after the table of contents, there's a map. The six states that make up New England are dotted with the subjects of the issue's stories, from a successful Massachusetts sex toy entrepreneur (njoy) to a smattering of circus schools in multiple states. The magazine's social handles are printed over Maine, roughly just northeast of Baxter State Park. I should not admit it, but I immediately honed in on Vermont — an impulse, I believe, that founders Lauren Clark and Michael Kusek are striving to work against.
Tags: take magazine , publishing , words , Image , Web Only
Granted, Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood came out in 1976, at a moment when Paramount Pictures was far more willing to take chances than any big studio would be today, but that doesn’t excuse a film that is just barely coherent and was directed with the minimum of competence. For that, though, Won Ton Ton is a somewhat intriguing film, as are most of the others by its director, Michael Winner, who was probably one of the most consistently weird of all mainstream film directors.
It’s probably neither fair nor relevant for me to beat up on a 40-year-old movie, but, hey, the mandate of this column is for me to write about what I’m watching, and what I recently watched was a big old pile of cinematic dog doo-doo.
Tags: what i'm watching , movie , film , won ton ton , won ton ton the dog who saved hollywood , michael winner , 1970s , paramount pictures , hollywood , Image , Video , Web Only