With some ninety-six hours of unused footage to draw from, a group of editors and archivists under the direction of E. Elias Merhiga are planning to produce a restored version of the critically panned, arguably unfilmable 1980 erotic historical drama Caligula that is truer to the original vision of author Gore Vidal, director Tinto Brass and producer adult magazine mogul Bob Guccione.
Though overlapping in some regards and quite distinct in other, this film—mostly rumours thereof rather, I think—occupies the same sort of place in my mind as another soap opera about Roman society that I’ve been enjoying recently. Among the scenes that ended up on the cutting room floor were these incredulous and wildly inappropriate cross-promotional line of action figures—riding off the marketing success of Star Wars, a film with half the budget of Caligula, pitched to Guccione by a company called Cinco Toys—from Adult Swim fame. More to explore at the links above.
Wednesday 1 April 2020
penthouse playset
Sunday 19 January 2020
space ghost coast-to-coast
Disappointingly—though somewhat heartening at the same time since these cadets are far from deserving anything suggestive of a Star Fleet uniform but perhaps to be seen as siding with the Rebellion during the battle on the forest moon of Endor—there’s been a reported preview of the new design for the US Space Force (previously) proposed battle dress, which is inexplicably patterned like the digital woodland camouflage of the landlubbing, terrestrial services.
We doubt that this is able to cloak anything in outer space and would have the opposite effect of making individuals more conspicuous. Judging by the rank on the exemplar shown, it’s intended for none other the branch’s commander, four-star general John “Jay” Raymond. The Department of Defense responded to the deserved onslaught of ridicule citing cost-savings measures by using surplus fabric and engendering a sense of cohesion by matching the other branches during joint operations. Any one of us would like to captain a starship, just not in this timeline, defending Trump Towers Icaria Planum from attack.
Wednesday 1 January 2020
figrin d’an and the modal nodes
Via Boing Boing, we are introduced to the synthesizer reinterpretation of the score to Star Wars by the late, accomplished electronic music and soundtrack designer Osamu Shoji (*1932 – †2018) released in 1978 in Japan only. Though not even the only homage to John Williams’ orchestral opus in this particular genre that’s worth checking out, Shoji’s remaking of the themes and the leitmotifs are singularly spectacular, especially the directions he went with the Mos Eisley Cantina music.
Friday 27 December 2019
7x7
rebirth of a salesman: revisiting a 1969 documentary that revealed how evangelism and door-to-door sales converged
ะฝะพะฒะพะณะพะดะฝะตะต ะดะตัะตะฒะพ: the evolution of the Yolka New Year’s Tree—from its pagan roots to Soviet anti-religious symbolic staple (see also)
mamurluk: also home to the Museum of Break-Ups, a new gallery space dedicated to hangovers opens in Zagreb
now that’s a name i’ve not heard in a long time: a fan-made Obi-Wan Kenobi Star Wars story
intern’yet: reportedly, Russia successfully unplugs from the world wide web and replaced global portals with domestic ones
bergkristall: Adalbert Stifter’s timeless, beloved 1845 novella
open conference bridge: a team of volunteers are retrofitting and reviving a network of payless, pay phone booths to bring community cohesion
Saturday 23 November 2019
maclunkey
From the Hollywood script writers’ podcast Story Break (previously here and here) who’ve imagined and pitched such properties as Jar-Jar: A Star Wars Story, we’re treated to their signature treatment of another subtitle re-mastering of the franchise and how such a directorial decision could have larger implications—including not in the least the opportunity (nay, duty) to explore what the change signifies. In the original edition of Star Wars: A New Hope, a pivotal, expository scene Greedo, a bounty-hunter from the planet Rodia commissioned by Jabba the Hutt, encounters his target, smuggler Hans Solo, at the cantina of Mos Eisley (“a wretched hive of scum and villany”) and girds himself to deliver Solo to Jabba dead or alive.
Originally, Solo is depicted as killing Greedo, a decision which the director later recants, fearing it portrays one of the Rebellion’s unwilling heroes as cold-blooded and alters footage to reform Solo’s moral ambiguity by initially in 1997 having Greedo fire his blaster first and then in another special edition, portraying both firing simultaneously in 2004, in 2012 owing that the original portrayal was canon and then just within the past week debuted another edit to mark the occasion of its intellectual heirs’ premiere of its streaming service, this time with the exchanged subtitled except on Greedo’s last words before dying which audiences transcribe as either the title or possibly a Huttese phrase “ma klounkee.” Those last words still a mystery one fun tangent that the storyboarding session explored early on was that the Bounty Hunter’s Tale was a Star Wars-Groundhog Day mash-up and Greedo was caught in a Force temporal loop—the only escape being to finally kill Han Solo and we’ll go through an infinite number of variations, the same day repeated over and over again, accompanied by the musical stylings of Figrin D’an and the Modal Nodes. Do check out the whole episode at the link above and find out where they ultimately took this idea.
Sunday 20 October 2019
anakin starkiller
In the duo’s reinterpretation of John Williams’ Imperial March as synthwave, a retrofuture emulation of and tribute to 1980s film and arcade soundtracks that’s sort of the electronic music version of the cyberpunk aesthetic, the Awesomer introduces us to the musical stylings of Litiowave, who have made quite a few covers as well as original works. As the leitmotif (see also) associated with Dark Vader—and its use to denote rivalry outside of the franchise, the symphonic theme is one of the best known among all movies.
Wednesday 14 August 2019
toppop
A debt of gratitude is owed to Dangerous Minds for acquainting us with the Dutch answer to the UK chart show Top of the Pops—in some ways even exceeding the format’s original imperator in terms of variety and taking the programme to the artists.
During its run from 1970 to 1988, nearly every musical act were sure to include TopPop on their European circuit and the venue also boosted the domestic scene, giving rise to a genre called Nederpop. Production often included making music videos, which were of surpassingly good quality and sometimes were appropriated by the performing artist—a notable example being Nena’s 99 Luftballons where she is trekking through a bleak lumberyard near Hilverslum in north Holland was used as footage for the official video. Much of the show’s archive is available online for your viewing and listening pleasure. More to explore at the links above.
Saturday 25 May 2019
towel day
First observed two weeks after the death of Douglas Adams (previously here and here) in 2001, this day since has been designated as such as the author’s practical advice for interstellar hitchhikers to carry a towel with them at all times, even if they are without any other gear and otherwise quite out of their element. Widespread since 2006, this day has also been set aside as Geek Pride Day and although the two came about independently (the latter probably selected in deference to the premiere of Star Wars on this day in 1977), there’s surely some shared heritage among them.
catagories: ๐, holidays and observances, lifestyle, Star Wars
Saturday 4 May 2019
may the fourth be with you—always
As we mourn the passing of actor Peter Mayhew, Miss Cellania happily reminds, that although twenty years late, Chewbacca is finally recognised as a hero of the Rebellion and bestowed a medal by Princess Leia, at a Lifetime Achievement Award ceremony with highlights reel at the 1997 MTV Movie Awards.
catagories: ๐ฌ, holidays and observances, Star Wars
Friday 3 May 2019
8x8
shuudan koudou: the Japanese art of synchronised, precision walking
how happy we could be if we’d only listen to our kitschy teacups: cheerfulness is not a virtue and rather an equal opportunity vice
shortlisted: a curated selection of submissions to National Geographic’s travel photography competition
the wookie roars: RIP Peter Mayhew (*1944 – †2019)
tiger on tour: during the height of the Space Race, Esso gave away maps of the Moon
deplatformed: garbage social media ejected a bunch of garbage provocateurs, though the stunt is more publicity for the banned
klimaanlage: researchers in Karlsruhe study enlisting air conditioning units to pull carbon dioxide out of the air
yijin jing: watching Shaolin Kung Fu training from above (previously)
catagories: ๐จ๐ณ, ๐ฉ๐ช, ๐ฏ๐ต, ๐, ๐ญ, ๐บ️, ๐งณ, environment, networking and blogging, Star Wars
Tuesday 15 January 2019
spoiler alert
Sunday 30 December 2018
starstudded
Our thanks to Weird Universe for the introduction to the perhaps unfairly maligned 1979 Italo-German space opera Starcrash—written and directed by Lugui Cozzi—accused of being derivative of the wildly successful Star Wars saga that premiered in 1977—dismissed like this later homage, but actually produced in parallel, with Lucas’ film only coming to audiences overseas in December 1978. I suppose we all owe debts of inspiration—and that’s not say the two movies don’t share some common ancestry.
The film, which includes a soundtrack scored by John Barry, stars Caroline Munroe as the protagonist with Christopher Plummer as a benevolent Emperor of the Universe and David Hasselhoff as his rebellious son and heir apparent, was quite a serious undertaking and rather than exactly campy seems like the franchise from an alternate reality. Here is the trailer below and with a little effort, one can find the full feature online, should one be so taken.
catagories: ๐ฉ๐ช, ๐ฎ๐น, ๐ฌ, myth and monsters, Star Wars
Saturday 15 December 2018
8x8
bouquet: floral masterpieces recreated with living flowers
plenary session: climate activist Greta Thunberg delivers a powerful message to those gathered at Katowice
coming attractions: a mashup of all the biggest movie trailers of 2018
the notorious rbg: supreme court justice is amazingly resilient
rebel scum: gorgeous, retro Star Wars style propaganda posters
hot neptune: researchers locate an exoplanet that’s slowly being evaporated by its host star—via Slashdot
patchwork pojagi: the beautiful kimonos and accessories of South Korean textile artist and educator Chunghie Lee
please enjoy responsibly: funny suggestion for a Christmas time drinking game
Saturday 17 November 2018
life day
Our faithful chronicler, Doctor Caligari, records that on this day among many, may other momentous events in 1978, CBS aired the two-hour, never to be rebroadcast spectacle, the Star Wars Holiday Special (lest you thought Christmas-creep was a new thing) on this evening.
The nearly unwatchable show (made harder to view by dint of the fact that only bootleg copies of poor fidelity are in circulation) hinges on the plot of Han Solo and Chewbacca travelling to Kashyyk, the Wookie home world, to celebrate Life Day with his family (Itchy, like Chewie, being a nickname and short for Attichitcuk). The special introduces the bounty-hunter Boba Fett as well as Ackmena, a Mos Eisley’s cantina bartender played by Bea Arthur and for the first time credits the voice of Darth Vader to James Earl Jones. The original cast gather at the end to spend the holiday together.
catagories: ๐บ, holidays and observances, Star Wars
Sunday 11 November 2018
6x6
that’s like comparing apples and mass shootings: idioms updated for American contemporary culture
store brand: Christmas advertisement aimed to educate the public on habitat-loss due to palm-oil plantations banned for being “too political”
across the stars: John Williams’ fresh arrangement for the Star Wars prequels—which if nothing else continued the tradition of arch and on point scores
perhaps not forty-two after all: the answer to the ultimate question of life, the Universe and everything is instead one hundred and thirty-seven, the fine-structure constant that haunted Richard Feynmann and Wolfgang Pauli—via Strange Company
sacred and profane architecture: this is the church you go to when God is in the volcano forging a ring of power, a Twitter thread via Art of Darkness
bauhaus 100: the next instalment profiling Herbert Bayer who helped create a universal typographic identity for the movement
catagories: ๐, ๐, ๐ฃ, ๐งฎ, ๐งฒ, architecture, environment, Star Wars
Wednesday 3 October 2018
tarpaulin
It was a decade ago on this day that US President George HW Bush signed into law the Emergency Economic Stabilisation Act of 2008 with the provision for the rescue scheme of purchasing toxic assets and making distressed financial institutions flush with cash called the Troubled Asset Relief Programme (TARP), as proposed by then Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.
The plan to bailout the banks and dull any painful consequences from their avarice had not curried much public favour nor did the covert and discretionary manner in the administration of the aide instil confidence that we all wouldn’t be trotte down the same path again. Though we can source the sentiment at least back to the speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr with “socialism for the rich and free enterprise for the poor,” the passage of the law did inspire a few choice turns of phrases and meditations on how paradoxically the aim of capitalism is to escape its bonds and the observation that the intervention allows corporations to “privatize profits and to socialise losses.”
Tuesday 25 September 2018
panda, cyborg, jesus
catagories: ๐ถ, ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ท๓ ฌ๓ ณ๓ ฟ, ๐ฌ, Star Wars
Friday 21 September 2018
8x8
deuterocanonical: ranking depictions of Judith beheading Holofernes, via Things Magazine
miami vice: a look inside the Mutiny Hotel where Scarface was filmed
stylite: an investigation into the doctored photograph of an ancient ruin reveals an ascetic tradition
knight industries two thousand: a banjo version of the Knight Rider theme
second skin: special membrane that transforms inanimate objects into multifunctional robots
plosive fricative: in English, counting from zero upwards, one’s lips won’t touch before one million, via Kottke’s Quick Links
biggs is right, i’m never getting out of here: animator Dmitry Grozov creates a brilliant anime trailer for Star Wars: A New Hope
pigpen: researchers isolate the chemical, microbial shadow that accompanies all of us
Thursday 2 August 2018
pew pew
Tedium gives us an interesting overview on sound design and the history of foley artists (the distinction being that foley effects concerns themselves with dramatizing human and natural sounds, like footfalls or a yapping dog, whereas sound designers are tasked with imagining how a laser blast ought to sound) and acquaints us the award-winning individual behind many of the iconic science-fiction and fantasy sound effects that are not only instantly recognisable but often serve to place one at a precise point in the narrative. Ben Burtt created the hums of lightsabres, Darth Vader’s respirator sounds, the satisfying, solid sound of Indiana Jones throwing and sustaining a punch as well as the crack of his bullwhip plus many others. Find out more at the link above.
Wednesday 6 June 2018
hifi
On the thirty-fifth anniversary since its debut with Return of the Jedi on 25 May, 1983, THX released the score of its “Deep Note” audio trademark for the first time, prompting a talented vocalist named Mach Kobayashi to intone the thirty voices across three octaves to recreate to signature choral strike to perfection.
catagories: ๐ฌ, ๐ถ, Star Wars, The Simpsons