Black Sabbath Live in Paris 1970

Black Sabbath, L'Olympia, in Paris, 20th of December of 1970. This is the earliest footage of a complete concert of Black Sabbath in existence. Here they perform many songs from their most recent album at the time, PARANOID, as well as several from their debut. Interestingly, many of the songs from PARANOID feature their original pre-album lyrics - or Ozzy had simply forgotten the new ones! The original show was split into two halves and includes some behind-the scenes clips of the band before the show. Set List: Intro -> Paranoid , Hand Of Doom [alternate, improvised lyrics] -> Rat Salad , Iron Man, Guitar Intro -> Black Sabbath, N.I.B., Behind The Wall Of Sleep -> Jazz Improvisation, Walpurgis [a.k.a. War Pigs - alternate, improvised lyrics], Fairies Wear Boots.

Iron Sky

Towards the end of World War II the Nazi scientists made a significant breakthrough in anti-gravity. From a secret base built in the Antarctic, the first Nazi spaceships were launched in late ‘45 to found the military base Schwarze Sonne (Black Sun) on the dark side of the Moon. This base was to build a powerful invasion fleet and return to take over the Earth once the time was right.

Now it’s 2018, and it’s the time for the first American Moon landing since the 70’s. Meanwhile the Nazi invasion, that has been over 70 years in the making, is on its way, and the world is goose-stepping towards its doom. The three main characters of the story are Renate Richter (Julia Dietze), Klaus Adler (Götz Otto), and James Washington (Christopher Kirby).

Iron Sky

Cunnamulla

Director Dennis O'Rourke
Running time 82 minutes
Country Australia
Year 2000
Associated shops

Reviewed by Rishika

If you hold a romanticised view of life in sunny Australia, Dennis O'Rourke's Cunnamulla might prove an eye-opener, but for the rest of us it holds little that is revelatory.

O'Rourke takes his camera to small-town Cunnamulla at the end of the railway line in the state of Queensland, Australia. As Neredah, the chain-smoking wife of taxi driver Arthur, keeps telling us, life at the "end of the line" feels just like that, a dead-end. Teenage girls turn early to sex and alcohol as their only forms of entertainment, whilst young Aboriginal men such as Paul turn to theft in a predictable cycle of poverty and hopelessness. The older generation gossips, gambles, and listens to country music.

As a small-town veteran who has succeeded in his profession, O'Rourke walks the line between insider and outsider, opening a window on the lives of the ordinary people who seem so willing to share their stories with him. The problem with this film, however, is that there seems to be not much to tell past a repetitive set of complaints about life in the town, and O'Rourke, with his hands-off approach, doesn't do much to push through the surface of the story.

For instance, the film makes only a perfunctory effort to portray the Aboriginal peoples of the town, largely through the representative testimony of Paul, who's likely heading to jail for his petty crime. A few snippets of other Aboriginal peoples provide little in the way of balance to Paul's monologue or popular stereotypes, and cast little insight on the segregated life of the town.

Likewise, the lives of Herb, the eccentric scrap merchant, Cara the teenage dropout, or Marto the town DJ and rebel, remain opaque to the viewer, unilluminated by any context to the lopsided interviews; how did these people end up in Cunnamulla? Who makes up the rest of their family? O'Rourke largely edits out his own questions that elicit the talking-head monologues that make up most of the film, creating an impression of realism when in fact what we are given is a snapshot of lives cut off from history-either their own, or the region's.

Study Notes Here

No Logo

In the age of the brand, logos are everywhere. But why do some of the world's best-known brands find themselves on the wrong end of the spray paint can # the targets of anti-corporate campaigns by activists and protestors? No Logo, based on the best-selling book by Canadian journalist and activist Naomi Klein, reveals the reasons behind the backlash against the increasing economic and cultural reach of multinational companies. Analyzing how brands like Nike,The Gap, and Tommy Hilfiger became revered symbols worldwide, Klein argues that globalization is a process whereby corporations discovered that profits lay not in making products (outsourced to low-wage workers in developing countries), but in creating branded identities people adopt in their lifestyles. Using hundreds of media examples, No Logo shows how the commercial takeover of public space, destruction of consumer choice, and replacement of real jobs with temporary work # the dynamics of corporate globalization # impact everyone, everywhere. It also draws attention to the democratic resistance arising globally to challenge the hegemony of brands. Written by Loretta Alper

Withnail and Hamlet

"I have of late, I know not, lost all my mirth, forgone all custome of exercise; and indeed, it goes so heauenly with my disposition;
that this goodly frame the Earth, seemes to me a sterrill
Promontory; this most excellent Canopy the Ayre,
look you, this braue ore-hanging, this Maiesticall Roofe,
fretted with golden fire: why, it appeares no other thing
to mee, then a foule and pestilent congregation of vapours.
What a piece of worke is a man! how Noble in
Reason? how infinite in faculty? in forme and mouing
how expresse and admirable? in Action, how like an Angel?
in apprehension, how like a God? the beauty of the
world, the Parragon of Animals; and yet to me, what is
this Quintessence of Dust? Man delights not me; no,
nor Woman neither.."
Shakespeare's Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, Act II, scene II,

Two New From 6majik9

transformation anxiety


the golden road to unlimited excrement

Dennis Wilson: The Real Beach Boy

Part 1


Part 2


Part 3


Part 4


Part 5


Part 6

Kurt and Courtney

Kurt and Courtney

RIP James Freud

James Freud, singer and bass player with the Australian band The Models took his own life this week. The record The Pleasure of You Company from 1983 was a constant companion for me as a scuffed cassette tape, while I negotiated being a teenager in the rural wastes of Australia in the early 80s. The album is brilliant and sounds as good today as it did then;


No Shoulders No Head (1983)


I Hear Motion (1983)


God Bless America (1983)


King Of Kings (1985)


Big on Love (1984)

Meshes of the Afternoon

Meshes Of The Afternoon (Maya Deren, 1943) from SeriousFeather on Vimeo.

Meshes of the Afternoon (1943) is a short experimental film directed by wife and husband team, Maya Deren and Alexander Hammid. The film's narrative is circular, and repeats a number of psychologically symbolic images, including a flower on a long driveway, a key falling, a door unlocked, a knife in a loaf of bread, a mysterious Grim Reaper–like cloaked figure with a mirror for a face, a phone off the hook and an ocean. Through creative editing, distinct camera angles, and slow motion, the surrealist film depicts a world in which it is more and more difficult to catch reality. In 1990, Meshes of the Afternoon was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant", going into the registry in the second year of voting. According to a 2010 exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art, the film cost only $275 to make.

Shaun Ryder The Ecstasy & The Agony

Part 1


Part 2


Part 3


Part 4


Part 5


Part 6


Filmed over eight months, we follow the singer-songwriter as life hits a depressing low during his time in Australia around 18 months ago. Having been locked in a messy legal battle with his former Black Grape management team for the past six years, all Ryder's assets were frozen. Facing a life ahead being totally skint while battling with ongoing drug problems, his family feared for his life. Any self-respecting Mondays fan should not miss this chance to see the legend that is Shaun Ryder piecing his life back together.

Because of their notoriety, it's easy to forget that both Ryder and the Happy Mondays are rightly acclaimed as musical innovators. Formed in 1981 in Salford's Little Hulton by Ryder, they were signed by Factory Records legend Tony Wilson in 1984 and with the release of their second album, Bummed, in 1988, the public were finally tuning into a band whose glorious mix of shambolic punk, funk and dance, combined with a rock and roll attitude that reeked of hedonism of the highest order, would see them being feted as working class heroes and a cultural phenomenon.

Despite continuing to look like scally car thieves, by 1990, The Mondays were bona fide stars. Their indie-dance anthem, Step On, and musical masterpiece, third album Pills, Thrills & Bellyaches, saw them playing Wembley Arena with Ryder the mouthpiece of a generation. Who will ever forget the era defining moment when the Roses and the Mondays shared the stage of Top of the Pops- Mancunian magic at it's best. Sadly, the dream couldn't last. Self-combusting amidst inter-band feuds and escalating drug abuse during the recording of ill-feted fourth album, Yes Please, the eventually split acrimoniously in 1993.

Ryder's main post-Mondays highlight was his glorious 1995 return with Black Grape and their superb debut album, It's Great When You're Straight... Yeah! - which makes it ironic that the management of Black Grape have been the very ones causing Ryder, and his accountant, so much grief. But now, thanks to the success of his Get Loaded DJ tour, Ryder is back: The Happy Mondays are playing live once more and Get Loaded has mutated into a fully-fledged festival of all things musically Madchester.

Thankfully, Shaun William Ryder's long legal battle has finally been resolved. Having reached a settlement with Black Grape's former management team, he is now free to resume his musical career and keep his earnings, once he's paid back his debt to them. Even though Shaun lost a lot of cash during the prolonged legalities,
we're sure he's merely relieved it's all over - not least because, at one point during the court case, Lord Justice Thorpe observed that Shaun had "said he was freaked out by paperwork and that it 'did his nut in'". Brilliant.

The Musical Humours of Captain Tobias Hume

Life


A Pavin by Tobias Hume bass viol solo

from "The First Part of Ayres" (No.10)
viola da gamba Bruno Re


Tobias Hume(1659-1645)~Harke Harke
Jordi Savall~Viole de Gambe


The Spirit of gambo" for solo viola da gamba from "Musicall Humors" (1605)
Performed by John Dornenburg


Tobias Hume (1569-1645)
A question
The music for viol by Hume is written in a style called lyra-style. A kind of lute style with many chords.


Tobacco, No.3 the First Part of Ayres or the Musicall Humours (1605)Filmed February 6, 2009 in Duesenberg Recital Hall, Valparaiso University Center for the Arts, Valparaiso University, Valparaiso,


Touch Me Lightly

Tobias Hume (possibly 1569 – 16 April 1645) was an English composer, viol player and soldier.

Little is known of his life. Some have suggested that he was born in 1569 because he was admitted to the London Charterhouse in 1629, a pre-requisite to which was being at least 60 years old, though there is no certainty over this. He had made his living as a professional soldier, probably as a mercenary. He was an officer with the Swedish and Russian armies.

His published music includes pieces for viols (including many solo works for the lyra viol) and songs. They were gathered in two collections, The First Part of Ayres (or Musicall Humors, 1605) and Captain Humes Poeticall Musicke (1607). He was a particular champion of the viol over the then-dominant lute, something which caused John Dowland to publish a rebuttal of Hume's ideas.

Hume was also known as a prankster, as some of his somewhat unusual compositions illustrate. His most notorious piece was "An Invention for Two to Play upone one Viole". Two bows are required and the smaller of the two players is obliged to sit in the lap of the larger player. This work was notated in tablature and is indeed technically possible to play. His instructions to "drum this with the backe of your bow" in another piece, "Harke, harke," constitute the earliest known use of col legno in Western music.

At Christmas 1629 he entered Charterhouse as a poor brother. His mind seems to have given way, for in July 1642 he published a rambling" 'True Petition of Colonel Hume' to parliament offering either to defeat the rebels in Ireland with a hundred. 'instruments of war,' or, if furnished with a complete navy, to bring the king within three months twenty millions of money. He styles himself 'colonel,' but the rank was probably of his own invention, for in the entry of his death, which took place at Charterhouse on Wednesday, 16 April 1645, he is still called Captain Hume.

A Greek Meme

I showed this to some of my students today in order to illustrate what a meme is:


Zorba the Greek (originally titled Alexis Zorbas) is a 1964 film based on the novel Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis.



"The Chooky Dancers" at the Ramingining Festival, East Arnhem Shire Australia on the 30th September 2007


Britain's Got Talent 2009, Stavros Flatley AKA Dimitri and Lagi

A meme (pronounced /ˈmiːm/, rhyming with "cream") is a unit of cultural ideas, symbols or practices, which can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals or other imitable phenomena. (The etymology of the term relates to the Greek word μιμητισμός (/mɪmetɪsmos/) for "something imitated".) Supporters of the concept regard memes as cultural analogues to genes, in that they self-replicate and respond to selective pressures.

Neil Young - Le Noise - The Film

Neil Young's film "Le Noise," (39 mins) featuring performances from his new album

Steven Jesse Bernstein

No No Man. Nice video of Steven Jesse Bernstein running around and goofing.


Hope to Live (1990)
I was editing late one night for my day job as a contract video producer when Seattle poet/songwriter Steven Jesse Bernstein called. It was shortly after we'd worked together on a video commissioned by Seattle's Center on Contemporary Art. He'd signed up for an epilepsy research program at a nearby hospital. It paid $50 a night. While there, he'd written a new song and wanted me to tape it before he forgot it. The only thing I had handy was a cheapo VHS camcorder. This is the result.


Party Balloon (a video collage that captures much of the sentiment)


Excerpt from new documentary 'I am Secretly and Important Man'
(Peter Sillen, Seattle, 2010, 85 min) Peter Sillen’s documentary portrait of the guru of grunge, Steven (Jesse) Bernstein undulates like a spoken-word performance. Known in the Seattle art and music scene as one of the most influential voices of the late twentieth century, Bernstein was a poet and performance artist who recorded with Sub Pop Records and inspired Kurt Cobain, Oliver Stone and many other writers, filmmakers and grunge and punk musicians. Bernstein performed stories and songs about society’s fringes—angry, tender and sometimes corrosively humorous portraits of drifters, junkies and ex-cons. His mentor, William Burroughs, said of his writing, “The work is deeply felt…Bernstein has been there and brought it back. Bernstein is a writer.” Join us for this special West Coast premiere of the film, screened at The Moore Theatre where Jesse once shared the stage with Burroughs.

Un Chien Andalou, Um Cão Andaluz, An Andaluzian Dog

Un Chien Andalou is a sixteen minute silent surrealist short film produced in France by the Spanish director Luis Buñuel and artist Salvador Dalí. Its title means "An Andalusian Dog", but it is normally released under its original French title in the English-speaking world. It was Dalí's first film and was initially released in 1929 to a limited showing in Paris, but became popular and ran for eight months. It is one of the best-known surrealist films of the avant-garde movement of the 1920s.

The film has no plot in the conventional sense of the word. The chronology of the film is disjointed, jumping from the initial "once upon a time" to "eight years later" without the events or characters changing very much. It uses dream logic in narrative flow that can be described in terms of then-popular Freudian free association, presenting a series of tenuously related scenes.

In this version the original electroacustic soundtrack is by great Brazilian artist Cristiano Melli, which is "Buñuel and Dalí's 1929 silent movie "Un Chien Andalou", finished on April 17, 2009". More info on Cristiano here:

http://www.myspace.com/cristianomelli

For Neda

FOR NEDA reveals the true story of Neda Agha-Soltan, who became another tragic casualty of Iran's violent crackdown on post-election protests on June 20, 2009. Unlike many unknown victims, however, she instantly became an international symbol of the struggle: Within hours of Agha-Soltan's death, cell phone photographs of her blood-stained face were held aloft by crowds protesting in Tehran and across the world. With exclusive access to her family inside Iran, the documentary goes to the heart of who Neda was and what she stood for, illuminating the larger Iranian struggle for democratic freedoms through her powerful story. Directed by Antony Thomas.

Terence McKenna - The Alchemical Dream Rebirth of the Great Work 2008

In the mid-1990's Terence McKenna and Mystic Fire's Sheldon Rocklin teamed up to make this rich and exciting film. Little did they know that this would be their last film. Filmed in Prague with Terence portraying his usual erudite rendition of the Irish Bard, this filmed classic takes us on a journey into the alchemical renaissance of King Frederick V and his wife Queen Elizabeth of Bohemia. Playing the role of John Dee, court magician for Queen Elizabeth of England, Terence McKenna shows us how the promise of a return to the tradition of alchemy was almost instituted in Europe. He also shows us that this early attempt at the creation of an alchemical kingdom actually lead to the European Renaissance and the institution of Cartesian science and the beginnings of rationalism within the western mindset. This incredible film is not only beautifully filmed but is Terence McKenna s finest performance and a worthy eulogy to his genius.

Ed Kuepper

It is a mystery to me why the name Ed Kuepper is not much know beyond the shores of Australia. The man is one of the most gifted songwriters of the past 50 years. Here is a small fraction of why:


It's Lunacy


Sleepyhead




Real Wild Life


Also Sprach The King Of Euro Disco


Without You Mirror

Slavoj Zizek - First as Tragedy, Then as Farce

Slavoj Zizek, one of the worlds most influential living philosophers, visits the RSA to discuss capitalism's flawed priorities.

Still Life: A short film about Tony Judt

"To tell what is almost always an uncomfortable story and explain why the discomfort is part of the truth we need to live well and live properly. A well-organised society is one in which we know the truth about ourselves collectively, not one in which we tell pleasant lies about ourselves." - Tony Judt

Tony Robert Judt FBA (2 January 1948 – 6 August 2010) was a British historian, author and university professor. He specialized in European history and was the Erich Maria Remarque Professor in European Studies at New York University and Director of NYU's Erich Maria Remarque Institute. He was a frequent contributor to the New York Review of Books. In 1996 he was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and in 2007 a corresponding Fellow of the British Academy.

Starting as an impassioned left-wing Zionist, he dropped his faith in Marxism early on and became, in his words, "a universalist social democrat". After a period of admiration for the collectivism of Israeli kibbutzim, he would become critical of Israeli policy and its lack of tolerance. He displayed a profound suspicion of left wing ideologies, of identity politics, and of the American role as the world's sole superpower

Exit Through The Gift Shop

Exit Through the Gift Shop, the first film by renowned graffiti artist Banksy, became the hottest ticket at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival where it made its world debut. Banksy is a graffiti artist with a global reputation whose work can be seen on walls from post—hurricane New Orleans to the separation barrier on the Palestinian West Bank. Fiercely guarding his anonymity to avoid prosecution, Banksy has so far resisted all attempts to be captured on film. Exit Through the Gift Shop tells the incredible true story of how an eccentric French shop keeper turned documentary maker attempted to locate and befriend Banksy, only to have the artist turn the camera back on its owner with spectacular results. The film contains exclusive footage of Banksy, Shepard Fairey, Invader and many of the worlds most infamous graffiti artists at work, on walls and in interview. As Banksy describes it, Its basically the story of how one man set out to film the un—filmable. And failed

Gnaoua World Music Festival @ Essaouira Morocco

The Gnaoua World Music Festival is a Gnawa music festival held annually in Essaouira, Morocco.

The festival provides a platform for exchanges and a meeting point of music and dialogue between foreign artists and the mystical Gnaoua (also Gnawa) musicians. In this melting-pot of musical fusion, the Gnaoua masters invite players of jazz, pop, rock and contemporary World music to explore new avenues.

Pandit Nikhil Banerjee, sitar, Raag Malkauns, Part 1 and Excerpt

"My approach to music is very deep. I do not compromise. Indian music is based on spiritualism and was practiced and learned to know the Supreme Truth. A musician must lift up the souls of the listeners and take them towards Space. This is the history of Indian music."-Pt. Nikhil Banerjee

Love Story

Arthur Lee (March 7, 1945 – August 3, 2006) was the frontman, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist of the Los Angeles rock band Love, best known for the critically acclaimed 1967 album, Forever Changes.


Love: Autumn, Live in Copenhagen 1970


Love, Live at The Fillmore West 1970

Love was an American rock group of the late 1960s and early 1970s. They were led by singer, songwriter and guitarist Arthur Lee and the group's second songwriter, guitarist Bryan MacLean. One of the first racially diverse American pop bands, their music reflected different influences, combining elements of rock and roll, garage rock, folk and psychedelia. Their musical reputation largely rests on two albums issued in 1967, Da Capo and Forever Changes.


Love - My Little Red Book
Uploaded by DwightFrye. - See the latest featured music videos.

She Comes In Color from Marc Campbell on Vimeo.

Hiroshima Mon Amour

We should never forget.

Can Dialectics Break Bricks?

La Dialectique Peut-Elle Casser Des Briques?, in English, "Can Dialectics Break Bricks?", is a 1973 Situationist film produced by the French director René Viénet which explores the development of class conflict through revolutionary agitation against a backdrop of graphic kung-fu fighting.

The film uses a much older martial arts film ("The Crush" from Doo Kwang Gee) for its visuals which has been dubbed over by the filmmakers in an attempt at detournement. The concept and motivation of this film was to adapt a spectacular film into a radical critique of cultural hegemony and thus into tools of subversive revolutionary ideals.

The Narrative is based upon a conflict between the proletarian and bureaucrats within state capitalism. The proletarians enlist their dialectics and radical subjectivity to fight their oppressors whilst the bureaucrats defend themselves using a combination of co-optation and violence. The film is noted for its humorous approach to this serious subject matter.

The film also contains many praising references to revolutionaries who thought and fought for the realisation of a post-capitalist world, including Marx, Bakunin, and Wilhelm Reich, as well as scathing criticism towards the French Communist Party, trade unionism and Maoism. Also Subplots dealing with issues of gender equality, alienation, May 1968, and the Situationist themselves are riddled throughout the film.

"At the Pesaro film festival during the 60s French critic and filmmaker Luc Moullet challenged semiologist Roland Barthes by saying, "Language, monsieur, is theft." A variation on the anarcho-Marxist adage "property is theft," Moullet's aphorism implies that "language" in the public realm of cinema is a matter of expensive equipment--35-millimeter cameras and stock, sound-mixing and recording and editing machines, and so on--and therefore property. So to "have something to say" in that language you have to be rich or have wealthy patrons. And to "listen" you need to buy a film ticket or (not an option in the 60s) own a VCR--more property. In these broad Marxist terms the triumph of the proletariat becomes inextricably tied to control of production."

"By writing his own agenda on someone else's film almost a quarter of a century ago, Vienet was anticipating the kind of detournement [appropriation with critical intention] that has been happening with increasing frequency on video, though now the means are much more readily available and relatively inexpensive. I'm thinking of critical videos or films made up chiefly of found footage that have had varying degrees of exposure without permission from the original copyright holders. The most impressive work of this kind is Jean-Luc Godard's nearly four-hour, eight-part magnum opus Histoire(s) du cinema, Mark Rappaport's Rock Hudson's Home Movies and From the Journals of Jean Seberg, and Thom Andersen and Noel Burch's Red Hollywood. The first two episodes in Godard's series, each of which lasts 50 minutes, have been shown on five separate state-funded European TV channels without any permission from the copyright holders--which sets an important precedent. As Godard told me last fall, "For me there's a difference between an extract and a quotation. If it's an extract, you have to pay, because you're taking advantage of something you have not done and you are more or less making business out of it. If it's a quotation--and it's more evident in my work that it's a quotation--then you don't have to pay."

"Yet all these works have at most a marginal relation to the film business--at least as multicorporate capitalism has redefined that realm in recent years--and consequently it could be argued that it isn't worth the time or energy of any of the conglomerates to sue lowly independents for appropriating works that can't be taking much business away from them. However, Red Hollywood and both Rappaport features bring value to many works that these companies regard as essentially valueless--thereby increasing rather than decreasing future video rentals. But that doesn't mean that bureaucrats at these companies wouldn't charge ungodly sums if they were asked for the rights--it's a simple reflex." (source: http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/3469033/Can_dialectics_break_bricks_%29)

Das Hippies

German Hippie Documentray from towersopenfire on Vimeo.

Documentary with performances by The Dead, Mothers Of Invention, Big Brother, The Airplane, Quicksilver Messenger Service and lots of hippies dancing and getting stoned. It was directed by Stefan Morawietz for German TV. It’s in German.

The Known Universe by AMNH

TThe magic of this film, though, happens as the inky black expands. Pulling farther and farther from Earth, you see the deep blue of the Pacific give way to night as the Sun comes into focus, the orbits of the solar system shrink smaller and smaller, the constellations Sagittarius and Scorpio stretch and distort, and, as the Milky Way receeds, the spidery structure of millions of other galaxies come into view. Then, you reach the limit of the observable universe, the afterglow of the Big Bang. This light has taken more than 13.7 billion years to reach our planet, and you return, back to Earth, to two lakes that are nestled between Mount Kailash and Mount Gurla Mandhata in the Himalayas.

The structure of The Known Universe is based on precise, scientifically-accurate observations and research. The Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History maintains the Digital Universe Atlas, the world’s most complete four-dimensional map of the universe. The Digital Universe started nearly a decade ago. It is continually updated and is the primary resource for production of the Museum’s Space Shows such as the current Journey to the Stars, and is used in live, real-time renderings for Virtual Tours of the Universe, a public program held on the first Tuesday of every month. Last year, some 30,000 people downloaded the Digital Universe to their personal computers, and the Digital Universe will soon be updated with a more accurate and user-friendly software interface. Digital Universe is licensed to many other planetariums and theaters world-wide.

“I liken the Digital Universe to the invention of the globe,” says Curator Ben R. Oppenheimer, an astrophysicist at the Museum. “When Mercator invented the globe, everyone wanted one. He had back orders for years. It gave everyone a new perspective on where they live in relation to others, and we hope that the Digital Universe does the same on a grander, cosmic scale.”

The new film was produced by Michael Hoffman, and directed by Carter Emmart. Brian Abbott manages and Ben R. Oppenheimer curates the Digital Universe Atlas. The exhibition at the Rubin, Visions of the Cosmos: From the Milky Ocean to an Evolving Universe, opened on December 11 and continues through May 10.

Data: Digital Universe, American Museum of Natural History

For more information visit http://www.amnh.org

6MAJIK9 Live at Burst City, Brisbane

New sonic sculpturing from 6MAJIK9

A Taste of Contemporary Swedish Pop

While I slave away at the thesis construction I have been keeping myself from the pit of desperation by listening to music. One genre that is totally suitable to the writing of a PhD thesis is the pop that is coming out of the West Coast of Sweden at the moment. Here is a taste of it.


Little Dragon - A New (From their Album "Machine Dreams")


José González 'Crosses'


Anna von Hausswolff "Track of Time"


Wildbirds and Peacedrums "My Heart"

As well, while not West Coast, the sound of Fever Ray is worth including in this small collection as it resonates with many of the same so-Sweden sounds I think.


Fever Ray: When I Grow Up

Toshio Matsumoto - Atman - 1975

Toshio Matsumoto (松本 俊夫, Matsumoto Toshio?) (born March 25, 1932) is a Japanese film director and video artist. He was born in Nagoya, Aichi, Japan and graduated from Tokyo University in 1955.

His first short was Ginrin, which he made in 1955, however his most famous film is Funeral Parade of Roses (aka Bara no soretsu). Funeral Parade of Roses influenced Stanley Kubrick's film A Clockwork Orange heavily. The film was a retelling of Oedipus Rex, featuring a transsexual (portrayed by Peter) trying to move up in the world of the Japanese gay bars.

Matsumoto has published many books of photography and is currently a professor and dean of Arts at the Kyoto University of Art and Design. He was also the President of the Japan Society of Image Arts and Sciences.

(This film is intense and could give sensitive people a headache or a fit)

Hare Ram Hare Krishna : Dum Maro Dum Mit Jaaye Gum

Bollywood director Dev Anand explores a subject that was new to Hindi cinema in 1971’s Hare Rama Hare Krishna: hippies and drug culture. Despite being somewhat critical of the stoners in the film, director Anand depicts the “straights” in an even worse light: conventional, uptight and cruel.
The full film was removed from YouTube since I published this. I will replace it when I find it again.
Hare Rama Hare Krishna is the story of a young woman, portrayed by actress Zeenat Aman, who runs off to Katmandu to join a hippie commune. In this groovy clip, Zeenat lipsynchs “Dum Maro Dum” (take another puff) as a group of hippies follow her directions and start toking on some industrial-sized chillums.

Mel Gibson's New Film

Two from John Lee Hooker

Rolling Stones in Hyde Park 1969 and The Second Wave Documentary

The Rolling Stones played a free concert in Hyde Park London on 5th July 1969. This is the film of it. Here are the security detail, made up of members of the Kent chapter of the Hell's Angels (by today's standards they look eccentric).

After a couple of drug-bust-heavy years off the road, the Rolling Stones were at a few turning points as of July 5, 1969. Their back-to-basics Beggars Banquet album signaled the end of the rainbow dream of Their Satanic Majesties Request, and a return to a therapeutic blues mode that would last them long into the ‘70s. Most importantly, guitarist Mick Taylor of John Mayall’s Blues Breakers had replaced a drug-soaked Brian Jones, and Jones had been found drowned in the pool of his Sussex home two days before their previously booked free performance in Hyde Park. The Stones decide to go on with the show. As shown below, Britain’s leading independent Granada Television was there. Granada put the biggest rock concert in England’s history to that point (250,000 people, with Woodstock planned for a month later) into context by chatting with the band, the fans and members of the amazingly efficient Kent chapter of the Hells Angels. Unfortunately, the Stones’ next huge concert would demonstrate that the Kent Angels neglected to exchange notes with their West Coast brothers about how to best secure a large crowd.


Rolling Stones - The Second Wave

Rolling Stones - The Second Wave is a documentary film which looks exclusively at a period of unrelenting activity as the Stones celebrity reached fever pitch on both sides of the Atlantic and around the world. From 1967-1969 it features rare performance footage, seldom seen band interviews, and the music of the era throughout

Nirvana: Live Tonight Sold Out

Nirvana: Live! Tonight! Sold Out!! is a video album released by the grunge band Nirvana on laserdisc and VHS on November 15, 1994. The DVD version was released November 7, 2006. Kurt Cobain compiled much of the video himself, but did not complete it prior to his death. Surviving Nirvana members Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic worked with director Kevin Kerslake to complete the video, attempting to remain as close to Cobain's vision as possible.

Most of the live footage is from 1991 and 1992. The latest footage is from January 23, 1993 at the Hollywood Rock Festival in Brazil. A message appears at the beginning of the film to say that due to the circumstances of Cobain's death it was never completed.

Trainspotting

"Choose Life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a fucking big television, choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players and electrical tin openers. Choose good health, low cholesterol, and dental insurance. Choose fixed interest mortgage repayments. Choose a starter home. Choose your friends. Choose leisurewear and matching luggage. Choose a three-piece suit on hire purchase in a range of fucking fabrics. Choose DIY and wondering who the fuck you are on Sunday morning. Choose sitting on that couch watching mind-numbing, spirit-crushing game shows, stuffing fucking junk food into your mouth. Choose rotting away at the end of it all, pissing your last in a miserable home, nothing more than an embarrassment to the selfish, fucked up brats you spawned to replace yourselves. Choose your future. Choose life... But why would I want to do a thing like that? I chose not to choose life. I chose somethin' else. And the reasons? There are no reasons. Who needs reasons when you've got heroin?"

Anatomy of a fresh vibe

A BBC jungle music documentary from 1994

Beme Seed

God Inside by The Beme Seed from DANGEROUS MINDS on Vimeo.

"Beme Seed singer Kathleen Lynch was "the Stripper," whose stage antics helped propel Butthole Surfers to infamy. In most ways, her band is on its own plane — the quartet opened an entire tour for the Surfers simply by showing up at gigs unannounced, setting up and playing. Lacking the minimal organization of even the Sun City Girls, Beme Seed captures unique psychic qualities on its three opaque and unsettling records."

The entire 3 album catalogue and some live recordings from Beme Seed are available on the Free Music Archive, for free!!! (as the name suggests)

Bongwater- The Power of Pussy

Bongwater: Power of Pussy from DANGEROUS MINDS on Vimeo.

Atom Ant

Atom Ant - Doctor Crankenshaft's Monster



Atom Ant - Ferocious Flea



Atom Ant - Killer-Diller Gorilla

Atom Ant is a cartoon ant and superhero, created by Hanna-Barbera in 1965. His name may have been derived from adamant, which gives indication towards his great strength, exceeding "250 times his own weight". The name and character might also be a gentle parody of the Charlton Comics character, Captain Atom. Atom costarred in The Atom Ant/Secret Squirrel Show (sharing top billing with Secret Squirrel). In syndication, Atom Ant aired alongside Precious Pupp and The Hillbilly Bears.

Atom Ant (voiced by the late Howard Morris then by Don Messick in later episodes) operated out of an anthill in the countryside, where he possessed such things as a mainframe computer and exercise equipment. His powers mostly consisted of the ability to fly, superspeed, incredible strength, and invulnerability.

He was often contacted by the police, who sent him out on assignment. Some of these missions parodied those of Batman. The police force was constantly shown to be underfunded and inept, as they relied on Atom Ant to do all their police work. The only two police officers were the chief and deputy chief. The department only possessed one rusted patrol car. Atom Ant fights various villains including recurring ones like Ferocious Flea (voiced by Don Messick) and mad scientist Professor Von Gimmick.

Stalag 17

Stalag 17 is a 1953 war film which tells the story of a group of American airmen ("Cookie stated in the introduction, sergeants - flight engineers, radio men and gunners") held in a German World War II prisoner of war camp, who come to suspect that one of their number is a traitor. It was adapted from a Broadway play.

Produced and directed by Billy Wilder, it starred William Holden, Don Taylor, Robert Strauss, Neville Brand, Harvey Lembeck, and Peter Graves (Strauss and Lembeck both appeared in the original Broadway production); Wilder also cast Otto Preminger in the role of the evil camp commander.

The movie was adapted by Wilder and Edwin Blum from the Broadway play by Donald Bevan and Edmund Trzcinski who were both prisoners in Stalag XVII-B. (Trzcinski appears in the film as a prisoner.) The play was directed by José Ferrer and was the Broadway debut of John Ericson as Sefton. It began its run in May 1951, continued for 472 performances and was based on the experiences of its authors, both of whom were POWs in Stalag 17B in Austria.


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Part Ten


Part Eleven


Part Twelve

Kemialliset Ystävät - Nykyajan tanssi

music by Kemialliset Ystävät from their 2001 album Suurempi pieni palatsi. Images from Sergei Paradjanov's classic film, Legend of the Suram Fortress.

Baader Meinhof In Love With Terror BBC3

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Part 2


Part 3


Part 4


Part 5


Part 6


Part 7

Naakhum - Chitauri and Wandjina

Naakhum - Chitauri and Wandjina from BlackPaganCircle on Vimeo.

Sadhus: India's Holy Men

This amazing documentary called "Living with the Dead", was shot by two brothers, Naresh Bedi and Rajesh Bedi and released to audiences in the UK and USA in 1995. They were telecast on BBC-2 (whose Multicultural Programmes Department financed the project) from London and the Discovery Channel in USA.

The following is an excerpt from an article on Hinduism Today

The Aghori called Ram Nath provided the film-makers rare moments to recall. States Naresh, "Wading through icy cold waters in Haridwar's winter, cold beyond imagining, Rajesh would stand knee-deep, rolling his camera to catch the Aghori in a moment of midnight meditation in front of the burning pyres. The stench of dead corpses and burnt flesh is more than what was bargained for."

According to Naresh, the most difficult thing was convincing the reclusive Aghori sadhu to permit his life to be filmed. "It is tough because these sadhus just do not care. You can't offer money, and you can't say 'Maharaj ji, do this for me.' "

When asked to narrate some of the spiritual experiences during the filming, a smiling Naresh said, "We all hear about ghosts, witches, spirits and so on. But at the end of filming of Ram Nath at least I was convinced that there are some kind of supernatural powers or wandering spirits which somehow these gurus can tackle, by which I mean they can release a person from the clutches of spirits. For instance, while we were filming, a girl came who was highly possessed by some evil spirit; she was screaming and shouting and talking. Ram Nath tackled this spirit, and when it was all over, the girl was absolutely normal. She was an educated girl from a fairly well to do family of Delhi. You cannot brush off all this as some meaningless kind of show."

6majik9 live at the Book Nook

Mind warping sounds in the mellowest bookstore in the universe.

(On a big screen with good sound this is pretty amazing)

Ulysses (1967)

Dublin; June 16, 1904. Stephen Dedalus, who fancies himself as a poet, embarks on a day of wandering about the city during which he finds friendship and a father figure in Leopold Bloom, a middle-aged Jew. Meanwhile, Bloom's day, illuminated by a funeral and an evening of drinking and revelry that stirs paternal feelings toward Stephen, ends with a rapprochement with Molly, his earthy wife.

A warm spring day stimulates the memories of Dublin citizens, among them Stephen Dedalus, a young poet and schoolteacher, and Leopold Bloom, a Jewish advertising agent. Wracked by guilt, Dedalus recalls his intensely Catholic childhood and his mother's funeral; Bloom mourns his son Rudy. Since the child's death 11 years earlier Bloom has been impotent. His wife, Molly, has responded to this withdrawal by cuckolding him numerous times; her current lover is the virile boxing promoter, Blazes Boylan. Traveling in a funeral cortege, Bloom observes Dedalus strolling on the beach and is strongly attracted to the youth. While lunching in a pub, Bloom is taunted by a one-eyed anti-Semite. In a hospital lounge the Jew encounters the drunken poet, whom he follows to the brothel of Bella Cohen. There both men are beset by terrifying fantasies, Bloom envisioning himself an Oriental potentate, the mayor of Dublin, a culprit tried by a Jew-hating judge, and a woman. In the street Bloom invites Dedalus to his home, where the two spend the night conversing. As day breaks Bloom offers his friend lodging, but the poet refuses. Her husband asleep beside her, Molly considers her youthful courtship by Bloom, her present relationship with Boylan, and the possibility of a future affair with Dedalus.

Nirvana Live at the Reading Festival 1992

Nirvana's performance at England's Reading Festival in summer 1992 is widely viewed as the most celebrated set in the spectacular band's brief history. Now, it's finally available on a DVD that captures Kurt Cobain at his most provocative and intense.

There had been alarming rumors about the Nirvana leader circulating in the days before the Reading appearance, including one that maintained Cobain was deathly ill in a hospital after a drug overdose. So imagine the sense of drama among the crowd of 60,000 when the singer-songwriter-guitarist, looking frail in a hospital gown and massive wig, was wheeled onto the stage.