visually speaking

February 25, 2010February 25, 2010 C. Hannibal concerts, music, visually speaking

Busting Flicks in D.F.

I first started hearing photos referred to as “flicks” sometime in the mid 1990s. Up to that point, a flick to me was a movie. One of the things a lot of guys and girls in my neighborhood would do is take a flick outside of a club against a spray-painted backdrop, usually a huge dollar sign or something else that signified urban cool. If it was a group of ladies, you would get the sexy pose; a group of guys and you would get the hard-rock pose with one guy kneeling in the front somewhere. Someone probably had a gold grille in the pic, too. The photographer was probably using a Polaroid camera and sold the picture for around $10 bucks. I know my boy Marcus has a ton stashed in a box somewhere.

Coming to the digital camera game late, I decided to bust more flicks myself. In the past year, I’ve upgraded to a Canon G10 and focused my eye on hundreds of things. If anyone peeps my Facebook albums, they know.

I just entered my first photo contest, and didn’t win, but one of my photos beat out a couple dozen others to get printed and displayed in the exhibit for The Space Farm, a media collective based in Mexico City, check them out, here. Then, if you’re in Jersey, go to Space Farms, just for the kitsch-y flavor.

All flicks taken in Mexico City in 2009. They represent the four out of five I submitted that didn’t make the cut (from the top): Toy Selectah, Andrea Echeverri of Aterciopelados and Buraka Som Sistema.

February 22, 2010December 29, 2010 C. Hannibal cinema culture, visually speaking

Google Video pick of the week #002

Didn’t know where the thought came from. Maybe seeing the recent Wolfman, Daybreakers, Zombieland, Rabid, Hurt Locker and Precious all in the same month had me thinking about morbid stuff. I was wondering to myself, just before taking a rest for the night, about a movie I saw, in which a doctor says he wants to chop off someone’s limb to see if it regenerates. I couldn’t think of the name of that flick, until I saw the trailer for Frankenstein Conquers the World (1965) just a minute ago. That’s the entire flick courtesy of Google Video up above.

The movie is basically about a boy who turns into a monster with a huge forehead. He was born from the heart of Frankenstein’s monster and the radiation effects of the bombing of Hiroshima in 1945. It was a Japanese film distributed in the U.S. by exploitation house American International Pictures.

Must See Factor: 2
Best Reason to See It: If you feel nostalgic for 60s Japanese Sci-Fi production values. Or have guilt about what we did in WWII
Best part of the movie: The chopped off hand they find in the jail cell.

It stars American actorNick Adams, a guy who died at 36 from a drug overdose and probably has a more interesting back story than the entire movie. His wiki page cites claims that he was on the down low with Elvis and James Dean.
His last film apperance was in Los Asesinos (1968), shot in Mexico City and starring Pedro Armendáriz Jr.

Here’s a list of Google Video Picks that if I didn’t have cable, and my DVD player was dead and I was craving cheese and nostalgia, I would watch. I imagine a security guard in the 80s watching these on some local station.

Dracula vs. Frankenstein (1971)

Mothra (1961)

Psycho A-Go-Go (1972)

Godzilla vs Megalon (1973)

Enjoy.

February 9, 2010December 29, 2010 C. Hannibal cinema culture, visually speaking

Google Video pick of the week #001

“Willard” is currently available on Google Video via some outfit called moviepowder.com. It’s loosely based on a 1971 movie of the same name, but this 2003 non-hit has one of the best over-the-top, super-creepy performances by Crispin Glover. You know, the “Back to the Future,” guy. I’m interested to see how he plays the Knave of Hearts in Tim Burton’s 3-D “Alice in Wonderland.”

Must See Factor: 0
Best Reason to See It: Digital rats and Crispin Glover spazzing out.
Best part of the movie: Free.

If you’re unaware of Glover, his East Side connections, or his weird movies (he played Olivia Newton John in drag once), check his filmography.