#july 19 1975

[presleyspassions]

July 19, 1975 ~ Elvis Presley in Concert at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York.

#elvis presley #july 19 1975 #nassau coliseum

[lonestarflight]

Saturn Apollo Program

"This artist's concept depicts the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (ASTP), the first international docking of the U.S.'s Apollo spacecraft and the U.S.S.R.'s Soyuz spacecraft in space. The objective of the ASTP mission was to provide the basis for a standardized international system for docking of marned spacecraft. The Soyuz spacecraft, with Cosmonauts Alexei Leonov and Valeri Kubasov aboard, was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome near Tyuratam in the Kazakh, Soviet Socialist Republic, at 8:20 a.m. (EDT) on July 15, 1975. The Apollo spacecraft, with Astronauts Thomas Stafford, Vance Brand, and Donald Slayton aboard, was launched from Launch Complex 39B, Kennedy Space Center, Florida, at 3:50 p.m. (EDT) on July 15, 1975. The Primary objectives of the ASTP were achieved. They performed spacecraft rendezvous, docking and undocking, conducted intervehicular crew transfer, and demonstrated the interaction of U.S. and U.S.S.R. control centers and spacecraft crews. The mission marked the last use of a Saturn launch vehicle. The Marshall Space Flight Center was responsible for development and sustaining engineering of the Saturn IB launch vehicle during the mission."

Date: 1974

NASA ID: 9401759

#Apollo–Soyuz #Apollo Soyuz Test Project #ASTP #Apollo CSM Block II #CSM-111 #Docking Module #Rocket #Apollo Program #Apollo Application Program #Soyuz 19 #Soyuz 7K-TM #No.75 #Soyuz-U #Soviet Space Program #artwork #July #1975 #my post

[abiiors]

eternal sunshine: smutty summer prompts

hello hello, this list of prompts has an agenda — to have a summer full of smutty writing 🤭. the rules are what they've always been — write whatever you want, however many prompts you want, between 01/07/24 and 31/07/24 (07/01/24 and 07/31/24)

i hope you guys participate again and i would absolutely love to read your fics so pls tag #summer75 if you use these ♡︎♡︎♡︎

typed list of prompts under the cut

1] melted ice 2] summer heat 3] skinny dipping 4] fourth of july / fireworks (some writers on here are american, some are not so you pick which prompt you want to write) 5] hot and sticky 6] sundress 7] late night talking 8] sunshine baby 9] barbecue 10] sunburn 11] road trip 12] heatwave 13] day drinking 14] joyride 15] summer holiday 16] club nights 17] thunderstorms 18] tan lines 19] one towel 20] freckles 21] pool party 22] ice lollies 23] tiny bikini 24] beach day 25] bonfires 26] outdoor movies 27] swimming lessons 28] summer wine 29] summer wedding 30] too hot to handle 31] eternal sunshine

(ps: i made these for me and my mutuals in the 1975 fandom but if you want to use these for other fandoms, please feel free to do so :) however i’d really appreciate if you didn’t use the summer75 tag 🤍)

#reblogs are super appreciated <33 #summer75 #matty healy #ross macdonald #george daniel #adam hann #the 1975 #writing prompts #summer writing prompts #summer writing

[yourwizardofaus]

Elvis and his stretching pose, often during Polk Salad Annie. Like the flying karate kicks and windmill arm movements, it was one of those concert trademarks that declined after mid-1976 as his fitness worsened.

Dayton, OH, evening show on April 7, 1972.

An Ed Bonja picture from the evening show in Jacksonville, FL, on April 16, 1972.

Tulsa, OK, on June 20, 1972.

The closing show in Las Vegas on September 4, 1972.

In the Thunderbird jumpsuit in Oakland, CA, on November 11, 1972.

The afternoon show in Spokane, WA, on April 28, 1973.

St Louis on June 28, 1973.

The evening show in Atlanta, GA, on June 29, 1973.

Auburn, AL, on March 5, 1974.

Roanoke, VA, on March 10, 1974.

The evening concert in Amarillo, TX, on March 19, 1974.

In the rarely worn Aqua Phoenix jumpsuit in Milwaukee, WI,on June 28th, 1974.

During the College Park, MD, show on September 28, 1974.

In the Mad Tiger jumpsuit at the Indianapolis afternoon show on October 5, 1974.

Onstage in Jackson, MS, on May 5, 1975.

The Huntsville, AL, afternoon show on May 31, 1975.

In the Alaskan Totem Pole/Aztec jumpsuit in Greensboro, NC, on July 21, 1975.

At the Las Vegas opening show on December 2, 1975.

During the Las Vegas midnight show of December 13, 1975.

The Las Vegas dinner show on December 14, 1975.

In Johnson City, TN, on March 17, 1976.

The Johnson City evening show on March 19, 1976.

Wearing the Rainfall jumpsuit at the Cincinnati, OH, afternoon show on March 21, 1976.

St Louis, MO, on March 22, 1976.

In the White Bicentennial/Prehistoric Bird jumpsuit during the Atlanta evening show on June 4, 1976.

A couple of shots of Elvis in the Blue Bicentennial/Prehistoric Bird jumpsuit at the Atlanta evening show on June 5, 1976.

An undated 1976 picture of Elvis in the Blue Bicentennial/Prehistoric Bird jumpsuit.

Elvis in Champaign, IL, on October 22, 1976.

The Mexican Sundial jumpsuit in Milwaukee on April 27, 1977.

#Elvis #Elvis Presley #1970s #70s #seventies #rock music #pop culture

[hooked-on-elvis]

Elvis: chokers and suits, 1975

It's odd to me that not many people seem interested specifically on Elvis' choker pieces. I didn't find a website or any article (until now) on his 1975 chokers, naming them or something... just the jumpsuits and his jewelry pieces (rings and crosses and so on). Anyway, they are so essencial parts to his 1975 look!

I'll never get tired of those 1975 pictures. Elvis looked like a baby, a teddy bear, a little boy in 1975, specially wearing chokers. He's just SO cute I wanna cry! ♥ 🥹 ♥

On the two pictures above, EP's wearing chokers with the ✨ Silver Phoenix (White/Silver Eagle) jumpsuit ✨ with the Black Phoenix belt. There were at least two different "Zebra Belts"; both designed for this suit.

Above, from Summer tour from July 8 to July 24, 1975: Elvis Presley is pictured performing in the ✨ Chicken Bone suit ✨ (other names: Chicken Rib, Bear Claw, Black/Dark Blue Aztec).  Black jumpsuit with light blue puffy sleeves (no, even tho some picture make the shirt look white, it was light blue). Elvis also used this suit a few times in 1976 with an alternative belt.

And my favorite one, the ✨Totem Pole (Gypsy) jumpsuit ✨ with the Red Armadillo Belt. This suit made its debut during the 1975 July tour, but when Elvis first wore it, he didn't wear it with the original belt. He wore it with a belt that was originally designed for the "Navy Blue Two-piece with Red armadillo", also a 1975 jumpsuit. The original belt was worn with this suit during his 1975 December Las Vegas engagement.

This very same choker Elvis used with the Gypsy suit he also wore the day those pictures below were taken:

Smoking a cigar at JFK airport on July 19, 1975.

Anyway, Elvis wearing chokers is one of his best looks. ⚡

FOR MORE ACCURATE INFO ON ELVIS' JUMPSUITS: https://www.elvisconcerts.com/jumpsuits/index.htm

#elvis presley #elvis the king #elvis fans #elvis fandom #elvis #70s elvis #elvis history #elvis fashion

[foxes-that-run]

MH cried on stage about haylor?? I need to see this give me link

The TLDR is that the meltdown video: ramps up at 3:49, there is also this tumblr post by someone who was there about it and this news about it.

Maylor/Haylor storytime with too much info

Matty Healy's parents are actors Tim Healy and Denise Welch, overseas 1D fans may know his mum from this Loose Women interview with 1D. His parents had a messy public divorce covered in Tabloids.

1999 - When his mum was featured on This is Your Life, in this clip, 10 year old Matty said he wanted to be "a popstar and top class musician" with his mum looking tense.

2002 - the 1975 was formed with school friends in Manchester, it will be 10 years before they have success.

2009 - 1975 met and was unsigned by every major label. Their manager formed an independent label and signed them for £20.

2010 - One Direction is formed on X-Factor with Harry, 5 years younger also from Cheshire, 30 minutes drive from Mattys hometown of Wilmslow, both near Manchester. 1D becomes a national sensation and sign a £1m record deal with a major label.

2011 - One Direction continues to grow with the X-Factor tour, records Up All Night and starts their own tour.

2012 - What Makes You Beautiful is #1 in 16 countries including the UK and US. Harry starts dating Taylor Swift and the world loses it's mind over them and the band.

2013, February - 1975 get their first top 20 song, Chocolate that reaches #19 (Teenage Kicks was on #6 in the same chart, on it's way down from #1).

2013, September 3 - Harry tweeted that he downloaded the self-titled 1975 album. Matty Healy told an interviewer that he went from 4k followers to 15k followers in 10 minutes. Matty said they became mates, he texted Harry to thank him. The 1975 covered What Makes You Beautiful:

All fab, or so it seems.

2014, February - Taylor finishes 1989, Harry and Taylor start dating again and seem to for the rest of the year.

2014, March 20, fallout boy shares this photo of Matty Healy, fallout boy and 1d minus Harry to instagram captioned “London hangs.” I don’t know when the photo with Harry is from, the jacket is St Laurent 2014 and it first appeared on live journal June 2014. Harry wore the coat again in September.

2014, March - MH plays call or delete with Harry's BFF Nick Grimshaw and calls Niall and Harry, he says he has Niall’s number because he is writing a song for one direction and that he had never spoken to Harry before (but had his number and Harry recognised his voice and/or just would know Nick had the show on and who was on it.) MH asks to borrow £5k and Harry agrees. Harry probably knew he was on Nick Grimshaw.

2014, April - his mum says MH is writing a song for 1D and talks about Anne.

2014, May 8 - One Direction record Change Your Ticket in Fasano Hotel, the TV Special includes footage (2:12) of Julien and Niall figuring out the lyrics and melody in Rio De Janeiro. The band then toured

2014, May 24 - One Direction and the 1975 both play the Glasgow Big Weekend, though 1D fly in for just their show they are then in London.

2014, July - Anne tweets Denise with a throwback photo

At some point they play Change Your Ticket for Matty who Later said:

“They got me in and they said, ‘We really like your band. Would you write a song for us?’,” Matt revealed to Spin. “[But] they didn’t seem to be actually that interested. They just wanted to play me this song that they said was really, really inspired by us.", “Listen guys, fill your boots, the song doesn’t sound that much like ‘Girls’. But the guitar and the whole vibe of it is a complete lift, So take the guitars off and we’re good." “It would have been a bad 1975 song.”

2014 - October 27 - 1989 released. Taylor says to Rolling Stone that her publicist has said a relationship is not a good idea:

‘How long do we have on the clock — before something comes along and puts a wrench in it, or your publicist calls and says this isn’t a good idea?'” (bless you @cntfightmydemonsthyknowhowtoswim)

2014 - November 8 - Matty Healy wears a 1989 T-Shirt, Taylor likes a Tumblr post about it.

2014 - November 17 - FOUR comes out with Change Your Ticket including the 1975-esq guitar. In the Four Hangout Harry says "well done Tyler" (32:25) and Niall adds "your Boyfriends back", Liam adds "Your gonna get in trouble" Tyler is Taylor's name I n the Man video, the 1D band had rhyming or celebrity code names for themselves that they used in interviews (Harry = Susan Boyle etc)

2014 - November 19 - Harry, Taylor & Selena go to a 1975 concert together. This is often cited as the Maylor starting point, Harry was there and called her boyfriend by Niall 2 days before. Taylor posts a video of her, Selena and Harry is briefly seen. Video of Taylor and MH backstage.

2014 - November 28 - unverified rumour that Taylor was seen in an SUV at Chattanooga near the 1975 concert. She was in London 30th

2014 - December 2 - Harry and Taylor at Victoria's Secret After party and leave together in London. First time Style performed.

2014 - December 4 - Taylor at a 1975 concert in NYC, last till 2023. 1D in London, appeared on Graham Norton. Rumours Taylor dating Matty. he tweets they got his name wrong.

2014 - December 6 - Taylor has laryngitis at Jingle Bell Ball. Matty Healy does this on stage in Boston, crying and yelling at the audience:

8 December - Blind "The B- list celebrity offspring of two of the worst celebrity parents ever has been hooking up the past few weeks with the lead singer of the band that Taylor Swift loves. Apparently they sent Taylor a pic of themselves naked in bed together." (Ali Lohan (Dina and Michael)/Matty Healy “The 1975″)

2014 - December 9, after Twitter ran with the meltdown, coupled with Matty being linked to Taylor who the band knew to be with Harry. They go on more Four promo. One Direction was not getting on, Harry had broached the topic of the Hiatus a few weeks earlier. They appear on RTL in the Netherlands. Liam seems drunk and makes a beard joke at Harry.

24 December - Tabloid media about Ali Lohan/MH

And that's the end of the 2014, interaction, between Matty appearing in the 1989 t-shirt and the meltdown was 1 month, and Harry and Taylor were seen together in that time. Taylor did go to one 1975 concert without Harry, 2 days before Matty melted down.

13 December Taylor tweets asking the media to stop accusing her of dating her friends (kk & MH)

In this time Matty was also smoking heroin, from the New Yorker in May 2023:

In 2014, amid the early rush of fame and steady touring, Healy began smoking heroin, the only substance he found that could pull him down from the stratosphere. It was a secret, for a while; then the band staged an intervention. Healy resisted: he was the star, and the rest of them would have to get on board.

2015, November - Matty said to the Guardian:

On 6 December, onstage in Boston. “There was girl stuff,” he says. “There was family stuff. There was financial stuff. There was drug stuff. I remember hearing the crowd and having an identity crisis. I thought: ‘If you want to see a show, I’ll give you a fucking show. If you’ve come to see the jester drink himself into a slumber, I’ll give it to you.’ I felt like I’d become an idea as opposed to being a person.” At one point, a fan shouted, “I love you, Matty!” He’s ashamed of his response. “What did I say to the poor fucking girl? ‘You don’t have the right to love me. You don’t know me. I love you but you don’t get to love me.’ Jesus. Can you imagine your favourite band shouting that at you? What a dickhead. What a horrible thing to say to a kid who fucking does love me.”

2015 - January - Matty also does this interview where he says it was all fake that he dated Taylor and there is noone in the world he knows less than Harry Styles

2015 - February 26 - Taylor pictured hugging Nick Grimshaw, Harry’s BFF, next to Matty Healy at the 2015 Brit awards after party. Harry was in Australia, he and Taylor had broken Up and this is the night she met and seemed to immediately start dating Calvin Harris’s

2015 - April - Matty Healy and sources close gives a lot of interviews saying he is angry about Change Your Ticket and that One Direction stole the 1975's sound.

Love Me

2015 - October - 1975 Love Me came out which is a rather direct Harry diss:

the lyrics reference Blank Space "Rumors Fly": "You've been reading about yourself on a plane".

"caught up in fashion, Karcrashian panache" a style reference and a diss to Kendall

music video where Matty makes out with the cardboard cutout of a 17 year old Harry Styles.

on stage he copies Harry's dancing in this song.

In the BTS Matty says "I just wanted to make a video that was about some kind of sexually confused rockstar type that who buys into his own nonsense really"

he also wore Chelsea looking boots and pointed them out in the BTS

2016, March to Q Magazine, (and widely reported) Matty said:

“I feel like I’m not very good at relationships,” he’d said, and I wondered why. Healy explained the jumble of reasons – insecurity, self-obsession, a fear of misrepresentation. Was it also, I asked, a fear of losing himself? He nodded. “Absolutely. And the reason I mention that is because if I had [properly] gone out with Taylor Swift the first thing I would’ve [thought was] ‘Fucking hell I am NOT being Taylor Swift’s boyfriend.’ You know, FUCK. THAT.” Then he had added an afterthought: “That’s also a man thing, a de-masculinating, emasculating thing.”

I'm skipping ahead a few years, Matty brings Taylor and Harry up alot, like in random interviews with Zane Lowe, Nick Grimshaw etc. But the vibe is often separating him from success. I wonder if he is also reminding others he knows them.

2020 - February Taylor, Joe and Matty are at the NME Awards:

Healy said: “I went over to her. I was like, ‘Taylor, we need to make the record.’ No, I didn’t. She said hello to every single person. Obviously it’s Taylor Swift so everyone was saying hello. “She was just stood behind me. I mean, I haven’t seen Taylor in years so it was actually a really nice room. But it, unfortunately, wasn’t the time for me to pitch my post-rock Joni Mitchell project to [her].”

Collaboration with Jack Antonoff

2022 - 5 January - 14 February - he works with Jack Antonoff. The band did not work with Jack before 5 January 2022. On 5 January they were in Real World Studios (i.e. not Electric Lady with Jack) and the record was complete by 14 February 2022. It is an album made to be played live and Jack did not write lyrics, under 6 weeks is about right. There are rumours of a collab which Matty both says it is fake news he worked on Midnights and then that he did but it wasn't used. Taylor never acknowledged.

2022 - 27 March DM Story Jack had an argument with FKA Twigs who was dating Matty after the Oscars.

2022 - midnights comes out, no 1975 collab.

2023 - 12 January - Taylor performs anti-hero and The City at 1975 concert, multiple rumors Harry was also there: x, x, x

2023 - 15 January - MH invites HS to perform, H declines. MH makes inappropriate comments accusing Harry of Queerbaiting.

2023 - 11 February blind item:

2023 - March - Reps for Matty Healy's girlfriend Meredith says

“She did not see this coming at all. All the time Matty was in the studio with Taylor, she thought nothing of it. He’d spend the day in the studio and then come home to her. “Things were going well until around March 29 then, out of the blue, he stopped replying to messages and calls. “He just ghosted her and that was it. Then, four weeks later, he went public with Taylor.

2023 - March/April/May/June - Taylor touring the US. The 1975 touring Latin America in March, Asia and Australia in April and May, Europe in June. The only times they would have seen each other are the handful of times they were photographed.

2023 - 10 April - Taylor and Joe's separation press release. MH delete socials said:

"everything happens in eras. The 1975 is a very eras band. The era of me being a f***ing a***hole is coming to an end. […] I can’t perform off the stage any more.”

2023 April 14 - MH cries on stage in I always wanna die, and puts his head in his hands during Love it if we make it in Sydney. Saying “You changed all the words on my set list to rude words,” he says, pointing off-stage, before admitting the culprit is “trying to cheer me up because I’ve been going through a bit”. Covered in news

2023 April 24 - MH introduces 'She's American' in Tokyo with: "When I picture it, there's like three places I picture people listening to it, there's Manchester, Pennsylvania, that’s a whole other thing don’t worry about that and Tokyo” 1975 was formed in Manchester. Matty and Harry are from nearby Wilmslow or Cheshire respectively.

2023 - May 3 - TS & MH mouth "this is about you, you know who you are. I love you" on stage.

2023 5 May - MH at Eras tour, Sparks Fly and Teardrops on my guitar. He joined Phoebe Bridges on stage.

2023 6 May - OOTW/Fifteen. MH attends again

2023 11 May - MH and Taylor hold hands in NY

2023 12 May - Gold Rush & CBBH, Philli. MH on stage at Eras in skeleton costume. MH and Taylor at group dinner hold hands.

2023 13 May - TS This Love, no intro/Forever and Always (Philli) MH attends eras and seen with Scott Swift.

2023 15 May - Taylor leaving Electric Lady with MH

2023 24 May - People reports Taylor kissed MH at Zero bond, no photos of them arriving, no photos allowed in club. Last time reported to be seen together. 50 days since his ex said they were good.

2023 27 May - during the Radio 1 Big Weekend at Glasglow, a broadcast event, Matty Healy acted unusually and said "Try romanticising your life for a job, see how you like it". This section is cut from the BBC's official video of About You. Harry was also in Scotland in Edinburgh.

2023 June 5 - MH break up reported by TMZ later confirmed no longer speaking

2023 August 16 - MH back with the girl he dumped in March for …. That.

2024 February 15 - MH said on stage “Do not come for me. Trust me. You know who I’m talking to. Honestly, you know who you are. I’m as mental as I seem. I have the receipts. Don’t f**k with me. Trust me.”

I have no idea what happened in 2023, but I think the blind is correct.

#Haylor #maylor #taylor swift #matty healy #harry styles

[yesyoubelonghere]

"Giant Rock is a large freestanding boulder in the Mojave Desert near Landers, California, and the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms (location 34°19′58.1988″N 116°23′19.5066″W[1]). The boulder covers 5,800 square feet (540 m2) of ground and is seven stories high.[citation needed] Giant Rock is the largest freestanding boulder in North America and is purported to be the largest free standing boulder in the world.

Native Americans of the Joshua Tree area consider it to be sacred[citation needed]. In the 1930s, Frank Critzer moved to Giant Rock. Inspired by desert tortoises that dig holes in which to cool themselves, Critzer dug out a home on the north side of the rock using dynamite. He engineered a rainwater collection system and a tunnel for ventilation. The underground home was reportedly never hotter than 80 °F (27 °C) and never cooler than 55 °F (13 °C). Critzer built an airstrip on the nearby ancient lakebed, which averaged a plane per day by 1941.[3] Critzer perished in a self-detonated dynamite explosion in his underground rooms on July 24, 1942, while being investigated by local police.

In the 1950s, Giant Rock was a gathering point for UFO believers. It is located on land which was at that time leased by George Van Tassel, a friend of Critzer's, a purported flying-saucer contactee and organizer of UFO conventions.[5] In 1947, Van Tassel, a former aircraft inspector, leased the property from the Bureau of Land Management and left Los Angeles and moved to Giant Rock with his wife and three children.[3] Van Tassel also built the nearby Integratron and a cafe, store, gas station and the Giant Rock Airport, which he operated from 1947 to 1975.

In early 2000,[2] Giant Rock fractured in two, revealing an interior of white granite.[3] The exterior surface of the rock is partially covered in graffiti." Wikipedia

(FF)

******

It was Thanksgiving weekend when I drove out to see this "big rock". Lots of off-roaders peppered the area and spoiled many of the shots I wanted of this rock. They also made getting up closer not enjoyable. So, I took some photographs and drove away.

A return visit will need to be considered.

[rock-and-roll-hell]

March 19, 1975

Dressed To Kill is released

📸 Bob Gruen

Dressed to Kill is the third studio album by Kiss, released on this day in 1975. It was produced by Casablanca Records president Neil Bogart, as the label’s financial situation at the time did not permit the hiring of a professional producer.

Possibly due to the short length of the album, original vinyl versions had long pauses between each track to make the sides longer than they would be based on the material they had. Each side ran just 15 minutes, and some of the song times were listed incorrectly on the vinyl versions. For example, "Two Timer" was listed at 2:59 and "Ladies in Waiting" was listed at 2:47.

The album peaked at #32 the Billboard 200 album chart in the US and was certified gold by the RIAA on February 28, 1977. ’Rock and Roll All Nite’ was released as a single on April 2, 1975 and peaked at #68 on the Billboard Singles Chart. ’C'mon & Love Me’ was released as a single on July 10, 1975 and failed to chart. While the album cover depicts Kiss in business suits, the only member of the band who actually owned one was Peter Criss. The suits worn on the cover by the rest of the band were owned by manager Bill Aucoin. The original vinyl release of the album also had the Kiss logo embossed around the picture. The photograph of the band on the album cover was taken on the southwest corner of 23rd Street and 8th Avenue looking north in New York City by photographer Bob Gruen.

Hi-Fi for Pleasure said of the album:

Hopefully, the coming and going trendiness of Kiss won't leave them high and dry. We're so desperately short of showman crutch [sic] rock that albums like these feel like fresh air and just as rare. But the signs are there that they've been pronounced a bit too proficient to be really heavy.

"Rock and Roll All Nite" is one of Kiss' most well-known songs – and has remained a staple in the band's concerts since 1975 – along with "Rock Bottom", "C'mon and Love Me", and "She".

#kisstory #1975 #dressed to kill kiss #kiss #kiss band #kiss army #ace frehley #peter criss #paul stanley #gene simmons #the spaceman #the catman #the starchild #the demon

[cadmium-free]

Funeral Parade of Roses (1969) - Watched on August 5, 2023

It spirals to its inevitable conclusion. We revisit a moment, a scene. A little more plays out, we step back or step forward. We live transfixed in a moment. Sometimes a scene mirrors another, it's all the same but with different details. There is no escaping fate, we can only be sucked closer and closer to our inevitable conclusion.

Stop Making Sense (1984) - Watched on October 5, 2023

I genuinely don’t think this needs any explanation or justification at all. I could watch it over and over and over and over and over.

Possession (1981) - Watched on October 17, 2023

It took me three sittings to get through this film and I wasn’t sure I liked it immediately after I finished it. And then it just simmered in my mind for days and weeks after until it finally clicked into place. I love the way Sam Neill moves in this. Everyone comments on the haunting way Isabelle Adjani looks directly into the camera, and yea. Yeah. Ok. Yeah. Yeah.

The Devils (1971) - Watched on June 26, 2023

I thought going into it with the full knowledge of Urbain Grandier would defang it, and perhaps this did soften the blow a bit, but it's audacious, frenzied, sensual. You get tangled up in its themes, its sensations, its torture.

Dog Day Afternoon (1975) - Watched on January 13, 2023

This set off a brief and ferocious obsession with Al Pacino. I have a strained relationship with films based on true crimes, but this slides past my qualms, perhaps just on the strength of the fact John Wojtowicz himself did write a review of it.

Bound (1996) - Watched on April 5 and August 19, 2023

The way Corky and Violet can come together with genuine trust so quickly. The way Ceaser can misunderstand Violet so fundamentally. The literal betrayal in realising who someone is.

Häxan (1922) - Watched on October 27, 2023

The 1922 equivalent of a Youtube video essay where a guy is like, "Guys, I just learned a bunch of fucked up facts about witches and witch trials. I think maybe we just execute women for being poor and mentally ill. Also aren't mental institutions a bit fucked up?" but like, a bit hornier than you would expect for the subject.

Cruising (1980) - Watched on January 17, 2023

It’s all about looking and being noticed. The camera is looking. Al Pacino is looking. The men are looking. And the ambiguity of the gaze and the plot.

Pontypool (2008) - Watched on October 4, 2023

It's a film about words. It's a film about broadcasting from a radio station and seeing nothing. Our imagination fills in the visual gaps. It's so much more horrifying to be piecing everything together from the safety of a recording booth.

The Lair of the White Worm (1988) - Watched on February 1, 2023

Hugh Grant—looking like a lesbian—who is a freaky little rich boy who believes in cryptids, Peter Capaldi—looking like a lesbian—sucking snake venom from a neck bite, an incredibly sexy snake woman with a house full of snake stuff, a giant snake puppet, surreal dream sequences, the coolest game of snakes and ladders ever made, snake dicks, weaponised bagpipe music, homoeroticism, and giant strap-ons.

Ravenous (1999) - Watched on October 19, 2023

This film is so offbeat and strange. It has the strange feel of a comedy, while being a really understandably grim depiction of cannibalism as manifestation of greed, expansionism, and colonization. I kept having these moments of shock that this was a studio movie, that studios were willing to make this film that so thoroughly deconstructs the American mythology.

Penda's Fen (1974) - Watched on July 6, 2023

The first movie in a long time that has made me feel as though I need to pick it apart like an essay, to rewatch multiple times and take notes and repeat sentences until I’ve done a thorough analysis. I've never had a film hit me in quite this way before.

#film #recs #long post #basically just making my letterboxd list here #i normally don't do a movie best of list for the year but i don't have ten non movies #station eleven and star trek are the only nonfilm things i would list i think

[doomandgloomfromthetomb]

BOOTLEGS 2023

The year is winding down, so it's time to look back at the last 12 month's crop of live tapes. Crowd noise, tape hiss, distortion, murk ... and plenty of magic, people! As I do this year after year, I ask myself: "Why do I do this year after year?" I guess it's a habit I can't break. But I do love something about these cloudy recordings — the immediacy, the imperfections, the possibilities. Each bootleg, no matter how lo-fi, contains a glimmer of hope, a potential for beauty and transcendence. The fact that not all of them (few of them, in fact!) really deliver on that promise is part of the deal. The search continues!

Anyhoo, here's a sampling of the Doom & Gloom goods from 2023 to get you caught up ... thank you to the tapers, the archivists, the fans, the innocents.

Sonic Youth - #SonicSummer (Live 1981-2011)

Mazzy Star - The Mint, Los Angeles, California, July 15, 1993

Television - Max’s Kansas City, New York City, August 28, 1974

The Flying Burrito Brothers - Altamont Speedway, Tracy, California, December 6, 1969

Damon & Naomi - Best Video Film & Cultural Center, Hamden, Connecticut, May 12, 2023

Sandy Denny + John Martyn - Sundown Theatre, London, England, October 26, 1972

John Fahey - Carnegie Hall, New York City, Sept. 21, 1973

Neil Young with Booker T. & The MG’s - Los Angeles Sports Arena, Los Angeles, California, September 11, 1993

Prairiewolf - Paradise Found Records, Boulder, Colorado, July 1, 2023

The Band - Wollman Skating Rink, Central Park, New York City, June 30, 1971

PJ Harvey - McCabe’s Guitar Shop, Santa Monica, California, September 25, 1993

Van Morrison - Harvard Square Theatre, Cambridge, Massachusetts, March 14, 1974

The Velvet Underground - The Playhouse, Edinburgh, Scotland, June 1, 1993 (Soundcheck)

Loose Fur - The Double Door, Chicago, Illinois, May 14, 2000

Stephen Malkmus - Mr. T’s Bowl, Highland Park, California, August 13, 1998

Yo La Tengo - The Grotto, New Haven, Connecticut, October 23, 1987

Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers - Town Hall, New York City, October 9, 1976

The Cramps - Toad’s Place, New Haven, Connecticut, February 20, 1992

The Dream Syndicate - Crystal Ballroom, Somerville, Massachusetts, September 18, 2022

Gram Parsons - Max’s Kansas City, New York City, March 9, 1973

Tom Verlaine - The Roxy, West Hollywood, California, October 17, 1981

Lou Reed & The Tots - Humpin’ Hannah’s, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, January 20, 1973

Elizabeth Cotten - Euphoria Tavern, Portland, Oregon, February 19, 1975

Sonny Rollins and his Jazz Ensemble - East River Park Amphitheatre, New York City, August 7, 1962

#bootlegs #live music

[laliloon]

🗓️Creepypasta Date of Birth Headcanons:

+ their ages in my au - set in late 2000 - early 2001

Jeff the Killer: 2nd June, 1974 (26 years old)

Homicidal Lou: 23rd November, 1970 (30 years old)

Jane the Killer: 5th April, 1972 (28 years old)

BEN: 9th February 1987 - d. 26th April, 2000 (13 years old)

Eyeless Jack: 13th December, 1969 (31 years old)

Nina the Killer: 30th March, 1979 (21 years old)

Laughing Jack: 25th December, 1862 (no specific age)

Laughing Jill: 25th December 1859 (no specific age)

Isaac Clement: 3rd December, 1854 - d. 3rd December, 1893 (39 years old)

Will Clement: 28th August, 1977 (23 years old)

Frank the Undead: 27th April, 1896 - d. 31st January, 1931 (34 years old)

Jason the Toymaker: 15th November, 1746 - d(?). 21st May, 1779 (32 years old)

Sally Williams: 7th September, 1963 - d. 19th July, 1971 (8 years old)

Toby: 28th April 1975 (25 years old)

Clockwork: 21st October, 1977 (23 years old)

Bloody Painter: 1st October, 1968 (32 years old)

Judge Angels: 29th September, 1964 (36 years old)

The Puppeteer: 18th July, 1973 - d. 29th December, 1992 (19 years old)

Zero: 10th May, 1980 (20 years old)

Nurse Ann: 9th January, 1957 - d. 16th February, 1984 (27 years old)

The Dollmaker: 22nd December 1968 (32 years old)

Kagekao: August 4th, 1979 (21 years old)

Candy Pop: c. Early 1400s (no specific age)

Slenderman: Unknown (no specific age)

Zalgo: 1000BC (no specific age)

#creepypasta #jeff the killer #homicidal liu #jane the killer #ben drowned #eyeless jack #nina the killer #laughing jack #laughing jill #will grossman #isaac grossman #frankie the undead #jason the toymaker #sally williams #ticci toby #clockwork #bloody painter #judge angels #the puppeteer #zero creepypasta #nurse ann #the dollmaker #kagekao #candy pop #slenderman #zalgo #creepypasta headcanon #creepypasta headcannons #creepypasta fandom

[lonestarflight]

"A view of the Soyuz 19 spacecraft as seen from the Apollo CSM flying the Apollo Soyuz Test Project.'

Date: July 19, 1975

NASA ID: AST-1-056

#Soyuz 19 #Soyuz 7K-TM #No.75 #Soyuz-U #Rocket #Soviet Space Program #Apollo–Soyuz #Apollo Soyuz Test Project #ASTP #CSM-111 #NASA #Apollo Program #Apollo Applications Program #July #1975 #my post

[garbagegirlblog]

my top 30 albums (not ranked in order)

.this is a long one.

Ultraviolence- Lana Del Rey • 2014 (January 1st)

2. feed me with your kiss- My Bloody Valentine •1988 (October 31st)

3. Unknown Pleasures- Joy Division • 1979 (June 1st)

4. Are You Experienced- Jimi Hendrix • 1967 (May 12th)

5. Shed- Title Fight • 2011 (May 3rd)

6. In Utero- Nirvana • 1993 (September 21st)

7. Loveless- My Bloody Valentine • 1991 (November 4th)

8. Vulgar Display Of Power- Pantera • 1992 (February 21st)

9. Souvlaki- Slowdive • 1994 (November 5th)

10. Rumors- Fleetwood Mac • 1977 (Febuary 4th)

11. Agents Of Fortune- Blue Öyster Cult • 1976 (?)

12. Born to Die (the paradise edition)- Lana Del Rey • 2012 (November 12th)

13. Crybaby- Lil Peep • 2016 (?)

14. Sing me a Lullaby, my sweet temptation- $uicide boy$ • 2022 (July 29th)

15. Led Zeppelin IV (Deluxe Edition) - Led Zeppelin • 1971 (November 8th)

16. Wish you were here- Pink Floyd • 1975 (September 12th)

17. 40o.z to freedom- Sublime • 1992 (June 1st)

18. Norman Fucking Rockwell • 2019 (August 30th)

19. Nevermind- Nirvana • 1991 (September 26th♡)

20. The Misfits Box Set • 1996 (February 27th)

21. So tonight that I might see- Mazzy Star ☆ • 1993 (October 5th)

23. Enema of the state - Blink-182 • 1999 (June 1st)

24. All hope is gone- Slipknot • 2008 (August 20th)

25. Dr. Feelgood (Deluxe Version)- Mötley Crüe • 1989 (September 1st)

26. The darkside of the moon 🌙-Pink Floyd • 1973 (March 1st)

27. Blue Banisters- Lana Del Rey • 2021 (October 22nd)

28. Among My Swan- Mazzy Star ☆ • 1996 (October 29th)

29. Flower Boy- Tyler The Creator • 2017 (July 21st)

30. Incesticide- Nirvana • 1992 (December 14th)

And that's all folks....for now >:)

#nirvana #lana del rey #tyler the creator #mazzy star #pink floyd #motley crue #slipknot #Misfits #Blink 182 #Sublime #my bloody valentine #led zeppelin #title fight #Fleetwood Mac #lil peep #$uicideboy$ #Pantera #blue oyster cult #slowdive #joy division #jimi hendrix

[frankendykes-monster]

Countdown to Halloween 2023, Ranked

43. Swamp Thing (1982)

42. Curse of Bigfoot (1975)

41. The Haunting (1999)

40. Orca (1977)

39. Teenagers Battle The Thing (1958)

38. The Beast (1975)

37. Don't Go in The House (1979)

36. Countess Dracula (1971)

35. Hillbillys in a Haunted House (1967)

34. Beware! The Blob (1972)

33. Alien Space Avenger (1989)

32. Baby Blood (1990)

31. Shriek of The Mutilated (1974)

30. The Mutations (1974)

29. Phase IV (1974)

28. Curse of The Faceless Man (1958)

27. The Sadist (1963)

26. Jennifer (1978)

25. The Wasp Woman (1959)

24. Noroi: The Curse (2005)

23. Girls Nite Out (1982)

22. The Monster of Piedras Blancas (1959)

21. The Cat and The Canary (1927)

20. Tell Your Children (Reefer Madness, 1936)

19. The Company of Wolves (1984)

18. It's Alive (1974)

17. The Wolf House (2018)

16. Michael Jackson's Halloween (2017)

15. The Girl Who Knew Too Much (1963)

14. The Omega Man (1971)

13. Gamera: Rebirth (2023)

12. Student Bodies (1981)

11. Night Caller From Outer Space (1965)

10. Inhumanoids (episodes 1 - 5, 1986)

9. Blind Woman's Curse (1970)

8. Maniac (1980)

7. The Child (1977)

6. Zombie 3 (1988)

5. Return of The Living Dead (1985)

4. Spider Baby (1967)

3. Basket Case (1982)

2. Messiah of Evil (1973)

Godzilla (1954)

Woof. Okay. This has been a mostly disappointing viewing experience.

Critical difference between this year's countdown and the past two is that now that I have stable employment, there is far less time to be watching horror films. I normally begin the countdown in September but we started in July of this year and still barely managed to crack 40, with my original goal being a full 100 this year. Timing. As such a lot of my plans and possible viewings were cut short and compared to last year specifically we fell back on a lot of "seen it already" at least for the top of the list.

This year's batch of viewings were largely blah, but a step up from the shitshow I put myself through last year (watching nearly every Texas Chainsaw sequel does things to a person). As such it'll be difficult to conjure up words for a decent chunk of these mostly because yes, these movies exist, I watched them, I would not recommend that you yourself watch them. That is all. If I write briefly on a given film that's not necessarily an indictment of its quality as there a decent number of these that I saw and enjoyed it's just their impact might be a bit fleeting. You will know which ones I actively disliked. I mostly just want to write about the top five or so but I will play fair.

Our grand loser this year is Swamp Thing, the DC Comics adaptation by Wes Craven. I watched this pretty much entirely because I finally got the Alan Moore Swamp Thing run in paperback this year after quite some time of having it on my to-buy list. Longtime Rachael/Ray/Ratchet fans may recall me reading it in early 2019 alongside [REDACTED]. Still one of the best Moore comics, and a second volume of Swamp Thing wouldn't have been possible without the success of this film. For context I did read the early Swampies by Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson and my general reaction to those was a'ight but there was definitely material for a serviceable film adaptation there. This is not that serviceable film adaptation. I'm not hung up on details like how Abigail has no connection to Arcane now despite being his niece in the comics, but this film is just kind of painful in how relatively unambitious it is which is saying something for Swamp Thing sword fighting another human mutation at the end of this. It's just silly and stupid and not scary or awe inspiring or anything, the Swamp Thing suit sucks, the action sucks, any sense of pathos is not there or gone, it stretches for 30 minutes too long like it's a padded TV pilot, the only highlight is being able to see Adrienne Barbeau's breasts. Fuck this it's a miserable experience to sit through. My mistake for watching a Wes Craven film that doesn't have "Scream" in the title.

Our next shitter is the two-for-one abomination that is Teenagers Battle The Thing (1958) and Curse of Bigfoot (1975); these are the same movie except Curse of Bigfoot has a 25 minute opening scene framing device that is bizarre given that "The Thing" of the original film is a Native American mummy of some sort unearthed by a group of white high school students. It's the rare personal pet project movie made for fun by some locals but the only highlights are the occasional kill scene, Curse of Bigfoot ranks lower just for making me sit through it longer. Blah.

Speedrunning through a bunch of these because theyre all varying degrees of bad and I don't want to spend any longer writing about these than you probably do reading about them: The Haunting is awful and I don't even super care for the original film so adding shitty CGI monsters and a moral lesson of "it's about family!" doesn't help. Orca is a shitty Jaws cash-in that's like a reverse Moby Dick where the sea animal hunts down the human, nice finale where the orca and shitty poacher guy are fighting it out in the Arctic but otherwise avoid. Don't Go in The House is a mysoginistic torture porn movie that really doesn't sell the "seemingly normal guy is a closet nutcase" thing even though movies made before and after have done it well (see Maniac several paragraphs below). The Beast is advertised as this really scandalous porno film but most of it is French aristocrats sitting around in stuffy rooms arguing about real estate. I think I only watched Countess Dracula for its inclusion in the "if this is her vibe I would fucking cum" meme and it's barely worth bringing up at all. Hillbillys in a Haunted House has an absolutely lovely Tennessee country soundtrack that I wish I could listen to without having to watch the actual movie which is devoid of both scares and laughs. Beware! The Blob gives off the feeling of sitting at a funeral for a family member that was just distant enough for you to be aware of them but not actually be upset but it's still a funeral so it's not like you're smiling, stick with the 1988 Blob film. Alien Space Avenger has some decent gore effects but that's all I can recall from it. Shriek of The Mutilated has one of the best titles for an otherwise uninspired yeti movie that has a needless third act twist about it being a cover for a cult and blah blah blah fuck you. Baby Blood has an alien mutant whatever crawl up a woman's vagina into her womb and she has to eat people to feed it and yeah I'm actually struggling to remember what happens here. The Mutations has a scene where a guy cuts into a tree and it bleeds, I think he's played by Donald Pleasance. Yeah, it's like Freaks except it plays to the freak show straight so you get to laugh at all the outcasts of society, no thank you.

Some odds and ends that I'd say are decent-to-pretty-good: Phase IV has some footage of ants and synth music. All you need is some footage of ants and synth music. Curse of The Faceless Man employs a rarely seen archetype of the living statue monster, it's cute. The Sadist is another starring vehicle for Arch Hall Jr., who was also the star of last Halloween's Eegah! (1962), though this film is a bold trendsetter for the 1960's with Hall being a unhinged killer holding people for ransom until they can fix his car and he can make a getaway. The film lives and dies by Hall's performance and it's mostly the latter until we get to an absolutely superb final act with him hunting down his remaining victims, it makes the whole film worth seeing. Jennifer is an oddball that plays out mostly like a character drama ("It wasn't my fault Daddy it was that stupid hillbilly bitch Jennifer") that suddenly remembers that it's supposed to be a cash-in of Carrie (1976) in the last 20 minutes and cue our titular character being able to summon and control snakes to send after her tormentors. Girls Nite Out is a plodding meandering slasher that's oddly hypnotizing considering so much of it takes place in pitch-black night and the killer is wearing a bear mascot costume with serrated knives hidden under the glove, not sure what fully to make of it. The Monster of Piedras Blancas is made up of leftover parts from the Gillman, Mole People, and Metaluna Mutant, but still manages to star in a decent enough film that gives a sense of what a series of monster attacks would do to a small seaside community. The Cat and The Canary is "cute" for lack of a better term being a horror comedy before the former genre had fully crystalized. Reefer Madness is horror adjacent more than anything but a hilariously good time about how the use of "marihuana" will drive today's youth into becoming crazed fiends and get involved in organized crime.

We can do this.

The Company of Wolves has an excellent story book like setting an atmosphere that you can't get in films nowadays and it's a shame that it's mostly remembered for its transformation sequences. it's Alive is the best Larry Cohen film by default of not sucking but it's still not "great", genius however for playing the concept of mutant newborn killer baby completely seriously without any sense of humor to the proceedings. The Girl Who Knew Too Much is almost a parody of giallo films which is interesting given those hadn't fully sprang up in 1963; absolute highlight is the main character being interviewed in bed by doctors and reporters and the like that yes she did see a murder and no she doesn't drink. I've always been fascinated and haunted by I Am Legend and while The Omega Man doesn't really capture the novel to a superb degree it's so beautifully shot that it lands high in the rankings for that alone. Night Caller From Outer Space is hilarious to me because of how it shifts halfway through from a Hammer-esque mystery about a meteorite with radioactive properties to a film about an alien that lures women in through a modeling advertisement. Blind Woman's Curse I've mentally confused with Irezumi for a while now (haha all 1960's Japanese genre films where woman have large animal tattoos on their backs are the saaame), and it's one I mostly watched for being directed by Teruo Ishii, but there's enough bloody yakuza fights and cats licking up blood for me to stick around; not the strongest Meiko Kaiji vehicle compared to Female Prisoner Scorpion or Lady Snowblood. Maniac I find mostly interesting as a precursor to American Psycho (2000) but also it's probably the only serious film to successfully pull off it's ending trope (which I will not spoil here). The Child is an absolutely lovely 1970's only-a-dozen-people-made-this-and-not-much-more-watched-it horror that oozes atmosphere, I could watch stuff like this all day. Aaand Zombie 3 is far and away the best film that Lucio Fulci has been involved with that I've ever seen. I love random scenes and set pieces of ghouls just massacring people that are shit out out of luck.

Okay, now for the ones I actually want to write about.

The Wasp Woman is one that sticks in my head way more than any other random monster movie that Roger Corman directed in the latw 1950's. I've said on here and Letterboxd that it could have served as a standard pop-feminist piece about how the cosmetology industry is built on misogyny and invariably a monster is accidentally created because of that, but this most recent viewing has made me sort of "get it" because that might be what the film is going for considering Susan Cabot's performance leads me to believe that she is aware that she is becoming a homicidal wasp monster but views it as a tragic means to an end where she still has the ability to have a new advertising campaign with her as the star. Tragic. This is why you don't wear make up.

Both Noroi: The Curse and The Wolf House are ones I didn't care for whatsoever but I put them in places on the ranking that I thought were fair given that people should probably watch them regardless of my personal thoughts. Noroi's format didn't really lend itself to the escalation of tension and reveal of information that the plot demanded and I found myself thinking it meanders quite a bit. The Wolf House was an odd one where everything that was happening onscreen bounced off of me mostly because I felt intimately aware that I was watching a movie, that someone had made something and that I was now being shown it. Blah. People like these so don't let me stop you.

Our animated offerings this year...

Michael Jackson's Halloween more than anything feels like an unlicensed creation that later had an English fan dub commissioned, not something that actually aired on CBS twice. Any laughs that I found in this thing were the unintentional type as we open up with Bubbles talking and being Jackson's chauffeur; you know exactly what you're getting into. Very little of the plot is explained but I'm assuming Jackson (who has no lines given this was made posthumously) orchestrates a dark fantasy adventure to hook two...teenagers? People in their late 20's? And convince them to follow their dreams of performing instead of working a deadend dayjob. I'm not sure who the actual audience for this was given it feels like so much of it was made for children but I will say anything that has this much of Michael Jackson's music in it can't be all bad, though I'm not sure why they didn't largely stick with tracks from the album Thriller (in the contention for best album ever, I don't care).

Gamera: Rebirth is one I feel like I'm on the outside on compared to most other tokusatsu fans because I didn't really *love* to a serious degree even though, yes, Gamera is finally back. The first three episodes are mostly just kind of a slog for me with the backhalf not doing enough to retroactively make me think highly of it, though giving off End of Evangelion vibes may make me consider that a second viewing must be in order down the line. Rebirth's strongest attribute is that it feels like it takes into consideration and influence from every prior era of Gamera, no stone is left unturned, and it's a marked contrast from how every recent Godzilla property only captures a single facet of their respective character. But that also creates unique issues like how a lot of criticism of ongoing US military presence in Japan is undercut so there can be a white kid in the main cast (because white children were always present in half of the Showa series) or having the ancient civilization that genetically engineered the kaiju now being malicious and actively sacrificing children as a means of reshaping the world gives me vaguely anti-semitic tones, I don't know, Gamera is still here, I guess.

"I was just a little twerp who liked Scooby-Doo and Smurfs, now I was viewing Cthulhu mutants ruin the Earth."

Everyday that we have Inhumanoids is a gift. Inhumanoids is another Hasbro/Sunbow production like G. I. Joe, Transformers, or Jem and The Holograms, and it is truly tragic that it never got anywhere near that level of attention compared to its siblings. The fact that a 1980's action figure tie-in cartoon is named for its antagonists is only the start; the series follows a small paramilitary outfit of scientists named Earth Core that are tasked with more or less saving the world alongside the Mutores, elemental beings, when the Inhumanoids, eldritch abominations, are unleashed. The degree of world-building beyond your typical "good guys vs. bad guys" affair is astounding with villainous humans and virtuous monsters abounding, but Inhumanoids is mostly magical and remembered for saying fuck all to any type of broadcast standards. Seeing giant monsters destroy cities, undead armies, and spelunking deep into the Earth (where nightmares begin...) are just standard fair here, as are witnessing the actual Inhumanoids such as Metlar (basically the devil) or D'Compose (giant undead entity that can zombify people by touching them and uses his ribcage like a jail cell) in action. The first five episodes here are the pilot movie of sorts for the series which only lasted thirteen overall, and they get more grissly from here on out, but maybe it's best that Inhumanoids is the short lived cartoon and no the cartoon that went soft as early as its second season. I will never not love this show, to this day it's one of my favorite animated series from any decade, much less the 1980's.

Back to our regularly scheduled live-action programming...

Student Bodies is a fascinating film for a myriad of reasons the first of which is that there were somehow enough slasher films by 1981 for there to be a comedy poking fun at all the already established genre-cliches. It's essentially Scary Movie (2000) a full 20 years ahead of the curve only actually funny in spite of the subject matter frequently being as juvenile and prejudiced; but it also reminds me quite a bit of Scream (1996) with stuff like two killers working together. All I know is I was in for a decent time when the film opens with three identical shots of a house just with different framing text: "HALLOWEEN," "FRIDAY THE 13TH," "JAMIE LEE CURTIS' BIRTHDAY" and then the killer, The Breather, calls the opening kill girl doing nothing but breathing heavily, she hangs up, he calls back with "I SAID [heavy breathing]."

Return of The Living Dead is one of those films that should have destroyed the any artifically-imposed boundaries between "high" and "low" art. Every aspect of this film is brilliantly made, it just so happens to be made for stuff like Scooby-Doo music overlaid on top of thunderstorms over graveyards where one female character is stripping to the concept of dying. Media involving ghouls is incredibly oversaturated, and this was still the case in the 1980's where a film like this had to redefine the rules to make it so killing ghouls was basically a non-option. It only recently struck me on this viewing that that's the whole purpose of removing virtually all weaknesses they have, to keep the characters as the nail instead of the hammer. Compared to the Romero films, there's never a point where anyone is in control of the situation, it just escalates further and further until there is literally no way out. Taking that into consideration, there's no way this film couldn't have been a comedy that frames people getting swarmed and eaten by ghouls as hilarious.

The soundtrack and the faux-punk sensibilities lend this a daft feeling of "you shouldn't be watching this" in spite of it not being one of the MOST gory horror films of the 1980's. I still don't get how this never broke into the mainstream. I mean somehow people know that ghouls (in this film) speak and only eat brains but I can't go down to Target and get a Tarman action figure like I can one of Michael Myers. As such Return of The Living Dead remains a criminally overlooked film regardless of its subject matter. It's made me laugh and cringe and feel disgusted and revolt at the concept at dying but mostly it's made me feel a delicious sense of joy at seeing corpses rise out of the ground to the tune of "Do you wanna party? IT'S PARTY TIIIME!" Some of you need to sit in the corner and think about your life choices for making stupid shit like Re-Animator (1985) or fucking Shaun of The Dead (2004) more popular than this, fuck you.

The act of watching Spider Baby is like discovering the missing link. For as much as 1960 gave us an explosion of horror (Eyes Without a Face, The Ship of Monsters, Psycho, Jigoku, Black Sunday, etc.) and Night of The Living Dead (1968) reins as the perennial transition point of the genre, Spider Baby is the road by which we go from The Cat and The Canary and The Old Dark House to the likes of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Eraserhead, it's magical finding an essential piece of a genre you love so much. Both the former and latter points of comparison are apt as a family of now only children [and their butler] suffering from Poe-esque hereditary illness have their condemned house set upon by distant relatives and everything slowly unravels.

Lon Chaney Jr. is an actor who for the longest time I felt never got a proper chance to shine wherein the last 25 years or so of his career was spent playing as side character actor in independent films. Spider Baby is his crowning achievement. Seeing him smile through almost tears on several occasions as he has to play bridge between worlds of sanity and madness and lie to everyone that he has some sense of control over the situation is brilliant in ways I always knew he was capable of but had never seen before this point. Bravo.

I will never not love Basket Case with everything I've got. This is the epitome of 1980's horror and my clear pick for best of the decade. It has everything from being a grungy putrid grindhouse spectacle to being an intimate character drama to everything presented through a wry ironic lense where you can't tell if any "bad" performances are all done on purpose. Between this, Brain Damage (1988), and Frankenhooker (1990), there is literally absolutely no reason why Frank Henenlotter shouldn't be more popular than Stuart Gordon, Brian Yuzna, and Lloyd Kaufman *combined*. It's tragic that the world of cinema being enclosed and captured by studios again in the late 1980's prevented us from getting more from him, but realistically could we ask anymore than what we already got from Basket Case? I could watch this every day and never grow tired of it. I will never stop making more and more people watch this.

If Basket Case is the apex of 1980's horror, then Messiah of Evil is the same for 1970's horror. This is one of the most efficient horror films ever made in how not a single frame is wasted, the opening scene is literally a guy running from unseen force, seeking refuge, getting his throat slit, cue title card with synth music that then leads us to a sunburnt hallway as our narrator descends into acceptance of complete lack of control of the situation. Every night shot in this film must be 50 - 75% completely black with whatever headlight or store front there is just making the scenery look like a dollhouse that our characters are trapped inside. There's so many shots of people running away or walking down streets that make them look tiny as the camera is so far.

Every scene is an exercise in building up dread. There's no point where the film relents, something awful is not only coming, it's already here and there's nothing anyone can do. What I love particularly is that the mystery being laid out doesn't offer any answers because there's another mystery on top of what our characters find out only too late. Layers upon layers of dread that even the titular Messiah of Evil isn't the center of. The world is a cruel fucking place where this film languishes in obscurity whilst shit like The Exorcist enjoys mainstream attention. A lot of my taste amounts to "why isn't this thing I like more popular" and cases like Messiah of Evil vindicate me.

"Godzilla is the son of the atomic bomb. He is a nightmare created out of the darkness of the human soul. He is the sacred beast of the apocalypse." - Tomoyuki Tanaka

Generally a yearly trend is that a #1 pick for Halloween is self-evident to me and this year it was Basket Case for all of 30 seconds until I picked Godzilla back up.

There's something to be said how Godzilla isn't quite a horror monster? Terrifying but not necessarily creepy, but what power do things that go bump in the night have against the destruction of everything you know? Everytime I watch Godzilla is like the very first time, when flashing lights out at sea destroy fishing ships I have no idea what happened, or at least any much of a clue as anyone in film does when we're told that the entire ocean exploded.

Godzilla is a reptile, but lacks scales and its entire body is coated in keloid scars. In 1954 Godzilla must have been the largest monster every committed to film, trains are derailed from running against its ankle and bell and radio towers are throttled for being a sensory inconvenience. Godzilla's first on-screen appearance on Odo Island is obscured by a hurricane but the impression is clear; you can't fight Godzilla in the same way you can't fight a natural disaster. When Tokyo is reduced to complete ruin amidst a sea of flames, it's an onslaught of destruction never before seen in a film of this genre. Survivors being afflicted with radiation poisoning shows that Godzilla will claim victims long after being driven back to sea.

There's a sheer apocalyptic dread to all of this sensed by all the characters. Love tries to exist on the edge of annihilation. There's nothing that can be done but persevere and maybe hope tomorrow will be better. A scene that always strikes me is when Serizawa is adamant about not using the Oxygen Destroyer until forcibly confronted with the results of one night of Godzilla making landfall in Japan. The absolute pain felt by everyone in the finale starts here, things couldn't play out any differently as the "scientist of the century" can't join in and celebrate his victory.

Godzilla is a rare perfect film. I will never tire of it.

#long post

[yourwizardofaus]

Elvis; Photographed at the same moment from different cameras.  Part 1 of 5.

When someone is the most photographed person in history, it stands to reason that they might be photographed at the very same time by two different people. Here are some instances of King Elvis caught at the same moment from two different photographers.  In collecting Elvis pictures since the 1990s I’ve noticed these pictures had the same timing.

At the infamous College Park, MD, concert on September 28, 1974.

The Indianapolis evening show on October 5, 1974.

Atlanta, GA - May 1, 1975

With big glasses and a fluffy toy at the Huntsville, AL, afternoon show on June 1, 1975

Elvis and a little boy onstage at the afternoon show in Uniondale, NY, on July 19, 1975.

#Elvis #Elvis Presley #1970s #70s #seventies #same moment different angles

[pollenallergie]

Eddie’s gonna marry you

Eddie lacks boundaries (18+)

How Eddie & reader got their nicknames

Miscellaneous headcanons

Eddie-isms (18+)

Eddisms

Eddie likes horror movies (18+)

Munson Men headcanons

Toothless & the Troublemaker

My Favorite Person | c. 1975/1976

Jitterbug | c. March 1984

The Dunes | c. July 1984 (18+)

Stuffy Noses and Skimpy Costumes | c. October 1985 (18+)

updated: 19 May 2023

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