The signs were there all along. It doesn’t take a genius to see what this means. It was only a matter of time. The evidence just kept mounting, until finally, the pressure was too much. Something had to give. Continue reading
Category Archives: Bad Influences
Trigger Warning
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Filed under Bad Influences, Faint Signals, Magazine Rack, Nostalgic Obsessions, Saturday Movie Matinee, Site Stuff
Jive Bunny & The Mastermixers
BUM BUM BUM BUM BOMM BOMM
NOW IT’S IN YOUR HEAD
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Filed under Bad Influences, Comix Classic & Current, Idiot's Delight, Nostalgic Obsessions, Worst Of All
10 Reasons Why I Love Gummo
If you’ve never seen Harmony Korine’s 1997 meisterwerk Gummo, you are doing yourself a great disservice. Rarely do I recommend a film so unabashedly, or so often. It has been my favorite movie for almost a decade, regardless of mood. I’ve seen it a hundred times, easily, and it continues to amaze me in new ways. And yes, it shocks, in a manner I draw great inspiration from. But beyond its often hilarious jolts, Gummo is the most explicitly human and raw film I’ve ever seen. The believability of the scenes- some scripted, some improvised- is so overwhelming and authentic, it pulls you into their world with all the force of the tornadoes that set the film’s events in motion. And you may find yourself every bit as devastated in their wake.
Gummo loosely tells the story of the residents of Xenia, Ohio, a quasi-fictional town that was savaged by tornadoes at an indistinct point in the past, and never fully recovered. The film centers primarily on a small group of children, but as we explore their ruined world, we meet a larger cast of characters, almost all portrayed by “non-actors”. Some are legitimately mentally retarded. It all gels amazingly well, providing a heretofore unseen view of what liberal assholes call “white trash”. I love it so dearly that I could go on endlessly about it, so I’ve decided to instead whittle my thoughts down to my ten favorite (more or less) things about my favorite movie. Here we go! Don’t forget to put out the cat! For god’s sakes! Continue reading
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Filed under Bad Influences, Faint Signals, Saturday Movie Matinee, Unfairly Maligned
5 Fabulous Fanfares
In the Before Times, when music on the radio was not analogous to commercial interruption, a band of musicians had a three-minute window to set the world on fire. Many groups took this responsibility with great gravitas, crafting an introduction to their big number that would grab listeners by the scruff of the neck and pull them uncomfortably close for the duration. These were songs that made turning the dial impossible.
And to state the utterly obvious, they don’t make ’em like this no more.
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Filed under Bad Influences, Faint Signals, Nostalgic Obsessions, Thousand Listen Club
Duran Duran
This strip is from ten years ago, and the last panel takes place twenty years ago. I didn’t get into weed heavily until around 1998, though. Sometime around the creation of the initial run of strips, interestingly enough. I don’t know, it’s hazy. Wonder why.
While an art school sophomore, I got a homework assignment that involved duplicating a known master’s art. I chose Rembrandt. This other kid chose Nagel. While the class spread our hard work out on the hallway floor for critique, an eccentric and stout professor (with a wonderfully incomprehensible name) dropped in from next door to speak with our teacher. As he did, he trod upon the counterfeit Nagel, scuffing and mangling it. He played it off like an accident, albeit halfheartedly, but we all knew it was a deliberate mercy killing.
Duran Duran takes their moniker from the Jane Fonda science-fiction ort Barbarella, a film so godawful, the director wisely stuck all the nudity in the opening credits.
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Filed under Bad Influences, Comix Classic & Current, Nostalgic Obsessions
Madness
There’s an episode of The Young Ones where they go to a pub, and Madness is performing (“House of Fun”, what else). Rik Mayall asks if the band knows a Cliff Richard song, and Suggs replies “YOU UMMIT, an I’ll smashyafacein.” It’s so horribly delivered, it only makes Rik look like more of a pussy when he backs down.
“Night Boat To Cairo” is probably Madness’s best. The bridge from “Bed & Breakfast Man” was used in bumpers for the ancient “Comedy Channel” show, Stand Up Stand Up.
That story in the second panel is true. It happened in the square behind Oglethorpe House in downtown Savannah. It wasn’t a friendly suggestion, either, it was without a doubt an instance of “haw haw let’s fuck with the weird kid”, delivered after the screeching wail of truck tires braking suddenly.
I’ve been living in Georgia for 25 years. When people from outside the South tell you about Confederate flags, the Civil War, rednecks, racism, and soul food, let me assure you of one thing. They don’t know jack shit about any of it.
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Filed under Bad Influences, Comix Classic & Current, Nostalgic Obsessions
Sinead O’Connor
Her righteous comments on Rolling Stone’s poor choice of cover subject are the latest addition to my defense of Sinead O’Connor.
And whatever your opinion of her may be, she still created this song, probably before you were born. Come on, listen to that guitar intro!
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Filed under Bad Influences, Comix Classic & Current, Girls of BIUL, Nostalgic Obsessions
The Year In Mask: 1987-1988
Originally published on Mike the Pod, 12.16.09
I think we can all agree that this has been a mean year. Personally, the sudden and recent death of a close friend has tinged so many things with sadness; favorite movies, toys, books, comics… it feels endless. These are the trying kind of times that make us crave nostalgia, possibly out of a desire to return to when life was just simpler.
It was this craving that resulted in hours of NewsRadio-watching as of late. It was my favorite show when it originally aired, and I was a struggling actor commuting to Hilton Head for puppet shows and murder mysteries where I always ended up playing the killer, back when you could simulate gunplay in a comedy club without causing a serious problem. I had to do caricatures too, which I hated, but the tipping involved was unbelievable; after one particularly crowded gig on that shoe-shaped island, I thought I was going to get jumped on the walk to my car, due to the baseball-sized wad of twenties that was barely contained in my jeans pocket. I wouldn’t trade it for now, but there are certainly moments I recall fondly, often for their quaint simplicity.
But enjoying NewsRadio in 2009 requires a few mental concessions. You have to forget that one of the brightest stars of its ensemble was murdered, in his prime. You have to forget that producer Drake Sather, a talented comedian in his own right, killed himself about six years ago (although it’s possible you didn’t know about this until now, in which case, sorry). And the opening credits, spotlighting a New York that almost looks idyllic, prominently feature a pair of buildings you might have heard about that don’t exist anymore. To really enjoy the show, one has to climb into its 1990s comfort bubble, and revert to a simpler mindset free of the ugly truths we now know. Heck, people still laugh at Hogan’s Heroes, and there’s a whole movie about what that guy did, and what grim fate ultimately befell him. Also, that whole comedy-Nazi bit.
This is why so many folks come back to toys for mental comfort. I mean, sure, that’s what toys are designed for in the first place, but also, toys don’t suddenly snap and commit murder-suicide, or rob gas stations for coke money. Toys don’t join political cliques that make you lose all respect for them and finally come to hate them and their ass faces. Toys don’t make sex tapes, or hang themselves in a closet while beating off. People get attached to toys easier than they do to other people because toys are far less complicated. It’s a piece of plastic; you’re either entertained by it, or you’re not. Continue reading
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Filed under Bad Influences, Faint Signals, Nostalgic Obsessions, Robot Toy Fetish
Tangerine Dream
I offer no apologies for my adoration of mushroom clouds, Indiana Jones 4, and the score to the 1987 teen comedy Three O’Clock High. (Sidebar: its trailer used “Father On The Stairs” from Stewart Copeland’s Rumble Fish soundtrack, which is what initially piqued my interest.)
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Filed under Bad Influences, Comix Classic & Current, Nostalgic Obsessions, Unfairly Maligned
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