video punks.

My good friend Diego Bergia just hooked up this arcade cabinet in his apartment that features over 3000 video games - basically everything that was ever made pre-millennium. So instead of pumping a machine full of quarters in the back of some sketchy donut shop after school, we're able to enjoy unlimited credits, close proximity to a fridge full of beer while banging golden era hip-hop on iTunes. It's kind of a cheat, but it's the only way you'll beat NARC without dropping a chunk of change. Besides, when's the last time you saw a throwback arcade in your neighborhood? The machine was originally created to host an animation piece for an art exhibit at Magic Pony Gallery in November but has since become a Sunday night hot spot.

This recent fanaticism with vintage gaming leeds me to another retro obsession - punks in movies. Diego put me on to an early 1980's gaming flick titled, Joysticks. Basically, the premiss of the film is that a bunch of squares try and shut down the local video arcade with plenty of stereotyping, gratuitous nudity and screwball humor along the way. One of the main villains is a punk named King Vidiot who is determined to destroy the preppy playboy arcade owner. His only real intimidation is that he wears black lipstick and has little shame or metal stability, which is a common portrayal of punks on screen. Vidiot got me thinking about some of my favorite punk roles in film, some of which are so B I couldn't even find stills of on the whole world wide web! For example, the 1974 kung-fu flick, Return of the Street Fighter featuring Sonny Chiba spotlights a couple of crazed Chinese punks with a white ringleader. They drive around mindlessly destroying fruit stands and rickshaws in their jeep while making some pretty hilarious ESL comments and gestures in the spirit of mimicked American rebellion. But that's not even the worst/best of it...

Punks in movies - selected stills and images below.

✝ Joysticks (1983) ✝

✝ Times Square (1980) ✝

✝ Summer of Sam (1999) ✝

✝ Valley Girl (1983) ✝

✝ Class of 1984 (1982) ✝

✝ Suburbia (1984) ✝

✝ Repo Man (1984) ✝

✝ Return of the Living Dead (1985) ✝

✝ Night of the Demons (1988) ✝

✝ Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains (1981) ✝

✝ Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter (2001) ✝

✝ Thrashin' (1986) ✝

✝ Dogs in Space (1987) ✝

fondate paure.

Ennio Morricone's Fondate Paure from the soundtrack for Lucio Fulci's 1971 Italian horror, Lizard in a Woman's Skin. The film revolves around a murder and one woman's dreams of psychedelic orgies on LSD. Morricone musically navigates through a trippy 70's thrill-web at his creepy best.

Film and score both recommended.

✝ poster art for American release ✝

✝ Italian title screen ✝

✝ soundtrack cover ✝

✝ American trailer ✝

waltz in black.

My favorite track from The Stranglers 1981 esoteric concept album, The Gospel According to The Meninblack. The record is based on conspiracy theories of alien contact with earth and the government, featuring eerie biblical narratives.

duckaldo rivera.

I keep my awesome comics in my apartment and the stuff I can live without in cardboard boxes at my mother's house. I found this last visit:

✝ Count Duckula #8 - Marvel Comics, December 1989 ✝

Count Duckula's intro still holds up.

grotesque.

VHS covers for Grotesque (1988) starring Linda Blair.

Only worth watching if you really like seeing punks in movies.

extinct species.

toccata and fugue in d minor.

Johann Sebastian Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor always reminds me of Rollerball. The song was featured heavily in 1975 dystopian fiction flick and will remain in my mind it's natural habitat.

If the piece doesn't say motorcycle-roller-derby to you, then you'll recall hearing it in any number of memorable medias, including: Disney's Fantasia, Deep Purple's Highway Star intro, Phantom of the Opera, Nintendo's Battle of Olympus & Castlevania, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931); not to mention the profusion of halloween themed albums, vampire movies and youtube tributes to Bela Lugosi. (Click links to view citations).

My recent fanaticism with the Glass Harp lead me to the discovery of this fantastic crystal rendition (below).

And if you're feeling that, you might as well listen to a floppy disk performance using 16 MIDI channels to create notes.

picnic at hanging rock.

Good on Nylon Magazine, for giving a little throw to the 1975 Australian horror film, Picnic at Hanging Rock in their February 2011 issue. It was both a Valentine's Day and seasonal trend reference to the high collared dresses, lace and crochet heavy costuming in the movie. The article plugged Vivienne Westwood, Erdem and Dolce & Gabbana's Spring '11 runway looks by exhibiting theme fitting pieces. However, I can't help but point out the obvious oversight when it comes to Ralph Lauren. The newest collection looks straight out of a ghost story.

✝ Ralph Lauren Spring '11 ✝

✝ Picnic at Hanging Rock - stills & trailer ✝

cubits.

A short film by Al Jarnow, titled Cubits (1977), which explores the relationship between animation and numerical operations.

mommie dearest.

Mommie Dearest inspired shoot for Numero Magazine (France, October 2008). Modeled by Siri Tollerod, photographed by Sofia Sanchez and Mauro Mongiello.

✝ click to enlarge ✝