Author: Chris Barrus

X-rated Giant Squid talk

From the “they’re getting grant money to do this?” file comes a great article from the BBC.

“Because the animals are migrating into New Zealand waters to breed, they are very randy,” the Auckland University of Technology researcher said.

“The freezer bag at home – to my wife’s disgust – is actually full of giant squid gonad samples. We’re going to grind all of this up, and we’re going to have this puree coming out from the camera, squirting into the water.

“Hopefully the male giant squid, absolutely driven into a frenzy, is going to come up and try to mate with the camera.

“This is the dream – we’re going to get this sensational footage of the giant squid trying to do obscene things with the camera.”

Read further for info on how giant squids, well, get it on…

Movie gimmick weekend part 1

LA area film fans should not miss this week’s run of How The West Was Won at the Cinedome. The movie itself is mostly hokey Americana (except for John Ford’s intense Civil War battle scene) with a big ensemble cast. However the real reason to go is to see the film in its original three-strip Cinerama projection. Just breathtaking. You really can’t go wrong with Cinerama views of the eastern Sierras, Monument Valley, and downtown Los Angeles in 1962.

Also showing at the dome this week is the documentary Cinerama Adventure which details the history of Cinerama. I suppose it’s all rather quaint compared to the typical IMAX movie, but there a certain earnest artistry to the Cinerama films that’s lacking now. Again, not the first time I’ve said something similar to that.

Fun Cinerama fact: The Soviet Union was so taken aback by the success of Cinerama and it’s potential as a propaganda tool, especially when the State Department talked about building a Cinerama theater in a retired aircraft carrier and going on tour with it. So naturally, they had to build one for themselves.

cinerama

The End of the LA Cacophony Society

Years ago (early 1990s) I was pretty well involved with the LA Cacophony Society – more or less a group of bohemian ne’re-do-wells who would take picnics to auto junkyards, visit UFO cults, have JFK assassination suspect costume parties, and just generally make a cheerful sport out of “freaking the mundanes”. Lots of dadaesque fun that made the big city a little more interesting.

I more or less retired from LA Cacophony in the late 1990s but hung around on the mailing list until the whole thing collapsed amidst death, a weird conversion into cultism, and subsequent Bad Vibes. It was all very strange from the outside – seeing folks I used to know through the group freak out. I hadn’t thought about it in a long time until I picked up the current issue (#6) of Arthur, which has a lengthy article on what happened. A PDF of the whole issue is available from their site.

Also in Arthur #6, check out the long interview with Iggy Pop and a fantastic interview with John Sinclair who’s packing up and leaving the country permanently.