Documentary filmmaker Les Blank passed away last Sunday at age 77. He was perhaps best known for his association with a crazy German named Werner Herzog. Personally, my favorite Les Blank piece is Burden of Dreams, which captured the grueling four-year ordeal that was the production of Herzog’s Fitzcarraldo. The …
Yesterday, I waxed nostalgic about my old job at a fish store. Today, please tell me about an unusual job you once had (or, perhaps, still have).
Once upon a time, I worked at a fish store. Specifically, I was once a manager-on-duty and African cichlid expert for a shop that bred and sold pet fish. The shop wasn’t a run-of-the-mill mall-based pet shop. It was a place for aquarium super-nerds. We had about 30 employees on staff, …
Waaaay back in the foggy mists of time, I used to run a web site named Cthulhu Coffee. The site is still out there, laying dormant in the darkest wayward corners of the Internet, looking very… HTML3. I stopped updating regularly somewhere in 2003, but for several years after, I kept …
When I say the phrase, “It’s a women-in-prison movie,” my guess is that your first impression is pretty far from what Caged actually is. The trope of a women-in-prison movie was well-worn in the exploitation era, which means it brings to mind things like scandalously torn clothing, shower scenes, and …
I can credit my intense love of movies to two people: my mom and Roger Ebert. I used to watch Sneak Previous and At the Movies religiously, and I’d make note of the movies I was too young to see, but would undoubtedly seek out when I was older. Mom is …
Genetic variation is an amazing thing. The chance that another human has or had an exact copy of your genetic code is pretty much nil. When the FBI uses STR (short tandem repeat) technology to identify forensic samples of DNA, they only look at 13 regions of the human genetic …
That’s right! As if I didn’t have enough projects, I started a second blog. This new site, called The Sound and the Foley, is dedicated to identifying and researching the history recycled sounds and melodies. From the Wilhelm Scream to the “Shave and a Haircut” ditty, these sounds are famous …
Recently, a new movie sensation has been making the rounds in the z-grade movie fan community. This movie showed up on Netflix a few weeks ago, and a few of my friends have talked about nearly nothing else since. My friend Aric even started a new blog entirely dedicated to this movie. This …
