Art from the Outskirts

*Calling all bloggers, artists writers editors and all creative people* I’m looking for opportunities to write articles, interviews, transcriptions and books. Please contact me at the comment box for more information.

Thanks,

Mike

Share this post with others:

Here’s one from the early days revisited for this week’s edtion of Friday Night Funky Flicks achived from October 18, 2008.

Here’s yet another classic film from the public domain. This film noir piece stars Frank Sinatra as a man out to assassinate the President. It’s not the best I’ve even seen but “Old Blue Eyes” certainly can’t be denied his knack for the dirty gangster role!

Unknown, strange companies crawling out of the woodwork have been, up till now, foisting ill-wind versions of Frank Sinatra in his early surprise hit, SUDDENLY!, a film packed with excitement but the sole purveyors of this excellently high-quality master created from the original 35mm master and, with the quality so high, all one has to do is pay attention and by the second reel–you’re hooked. It’s short, taught, and guaranteed to impress the riff-raff. Even the old Groaner would love this one. And this is the ORIGINAL version which means great visual field and, most importantly—NO “LETTERBOXED” VERSIONS!! This film was shot in a flat, square format, and there it shall stay. Buy the Hal Roach Studios version and avoid the phoney letterbox but receive the best possible show for your trouble. And, that’s a promise!! Remember, it was Hal Roach Studios that Colorized Suddenly which could only be done from really fine underlying black and white materials and that’s what’s being offered here, so enjoy. And, unlike the first try at the color version, “Old Brown Eyes is NOT back”–we made them change them to blue!! Highly recommended - OpenFlix.com Anonymous Reviewer

Enjoy Suddenly. Directed by Lewis Allen and starring Frank Sinatra, Sterling Hayden and James Gleason

Watch in full screen.

Have a great weekend from the Outskirts!

Share this post with others:

Welcome to week two of Saturday Night Funky Flicks! tonight’s unabashedly weird public domain wonder is 1968’s sci-fi adventure Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women. This one stars Mamie Van Doren as the lovely Moana who inhabits Venus with her sea shell bra barring sisters in this “so bad it’s great sci-fi” classic!

Synopsis

In 1998, six months after the collision of a meteor and subsequent explosion of a rocket sent to Venus, the team composed by the astronauts Kern and Sherman with the robot John is launched to explore Venus. They arrive in the Space Station Texas for refueling but they have problems while landing in Venus. Without communication, another rocket is launched with Commander Brendan Lockhart, Andre Ferneau and Hans Walter to rescue the first team and explore the planet. (More at IMDb).

Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women (1968)

Directed by two time Oscar winner and multi-tim honoree Peter Bogdanovich and written by Henry Ney

Click here to watch on a larger screen.

Voyage to the Outskirts!

Archived from September 27, 2008

Vocalist and emcee Maxim Reality lives up to his moniker!

Back in 1996, a brazen British band by the name of The prodigy (or just “Prodigy”) took their five years of rave-induced symphonic tribal beatblazing and brought it Stateside to a post-grunge America who now wanted to combine the angst of Alice in Chains with the beat-heavy brashness of the Wu-tang Clan. The Prodigy seemed to fill that void with their double platinum Fat of the Land album by marrying big beat electro with rock and hip hop in ways that have been barely seen or heard of since by a mainstream audience.

Their video of the same year for their single “Breathe” belongs to a seemingly Jungian version of MTV where the shadows that usually dominate only the unconscious mind are put front and center for the viewer’s entertainment. The video, directed by Walter stern, is set in a decaying, decrepit apartment wherein millipedes, roaches and crocodiles feel quite at home to peruse each and every bit of space with evil intent with creeping creatures giving the pulmonary percussion, tinny guitar, sword clashing sound samples and acidic vocal growls and screeches something different to accent at each frame. This along the with an eerily disarming punk-goth, “apocalyptic chic” wardrobe by the band’s vocalists Keith Flint and Maxim Reality make for a level of semi-abstract expressionism rarely seen outside of modern visual art.

Video source updated: Uploaded by Youtube member persisc

Brrrreathe with me from the Outskirts!

Archived from August 20, 2008

The following ad is for Axe Dark Temptation body spray is the brainchild of the good people at the Vegaolmosponce advertising agency in Argentina in collaboration with the MJZ production company and is directed by Tom Kuntz.

The Premise: A young, hansom man wakes from a night’s sleep refreshed and ready to take on the day - but before he leaves, he walks to his bathroom to spay Axe Dark Temptation body spray on himself after which he turns into a giant, chocolate man looking tempting as ever and ready to woo some hot ladies… and thus the fun begins!

Uploaded by Youtube member adsoftheworld

This is one of the more ingenuitive ads I’ve seen in years! I’m not sure this one would ever slide past network and cable censors in the United States, but the storyline alone merits Superbowl status in my view. I should think Willy Wonka might have really loved this one (were he a real person) because it is after all, such a purely imaginative use of chocolate!

Until next time from the Outskirts!

A promotional Lobby card of the US release
Source: Wikipedia

Welcome to the first installment of a weekly series wich will be happening right here each and every Saturday night. Every week the Outskirts will feature a quirky, creative and sometimes absurd film from the public domain vaults in a new series called Saturday Night Funky Flicks. This week’s feature is The Hong Kong martial arts flippin,’ funked-out, Kung Fu classic - 1973’s Five Fingers of Death! It is a typical, fast-action, heartbeat-racing, kick fest in brilliant and brazen 70’s fashion!

Fingers, also known as “King Boxer” is considered among the first of a slew of films in a genre that would have a short-lived cinematic history, but would receive a cultish reputation after the release of Bruce Lee’s 1972 epic Enter the Dragon in the same year as its Hong Kong release.

From Wikipedia:

“The movie follows a promising young martial arts student named Chi-Hao. He has spent most of his life studying under a master and has fallen in love with the master’s daughter Yin-Yin. After the master fails to properly fight off a group of thugs, he sends Chi-Hao to study under a superior master, Shen Chin-Pei. He instructs Chi-Hao to learn from Chin-Pei and defeat the local martial arts tyrant, Ming Dung-Shun, in an upcoming tournament in order to earn Yin-Yin’s hand…” (more)

Five Fingers of Death (1973 US Version)

Starring Lo Lieh and Directed by Jeong Chang-hwa

Come back here next Saturday for more funk from the Outskirts!

Are you brilliant, odd, dynamic are generally artsy to the umpteenth power? If so the Outskirts are calling you!

The idea is as follows:

In an effort to make this blog as dynamic and unique as possible. I’m calling for all you brilliant rebel artists and performers who want contribute to this blog to hit the comment boards and let me know your availability and what you do. Interviews, galleries, album reviews, book reviews, retrospectives and so forth. So if any of you have a need to gain exposure (no photography pun intended :)). I like perspectives that are a bit skewed and a bit off center, but classical artists are welcome as well. So come on out of the shadows and give yourself a helping hand! If you have talent or at least high ambitions you can leave a comment anytime and we’ll hash it all out!

*Serious inquiries only*

The Black Mozart Ensemble is a far-out, far reaching dream-like fusion of Jazz, hip hop, blues, blue grass and classical music in a melting pot stew of wonderful, and joyously youthful energy conducted by Roy “Futureman” Wooten. The original intent of the project was to tell the story of little-known Eighteenth Century French maestro and composer Joseph Boulogne de Saint Georges while celebrating diverse musical and cultural landscapes in a vibrant live concert/theatre setting. The current show also features several Eastern influences to add even more terrific flavor to an already spicy lineup!

…St. Georges used his abilities to find fame and fortune, yet as the son of a slave, remained an outsider. He fought against racism all his life, and can serve as a powerful hero for all of us as we struggle against the racism and divisiveness of today.

The Black Mozart Ensemble is composed of young virtuoso violinists and cellists under the direction of Futureman. The music is complemented by the addition of hip hop artists, and actors/narrators. The music of Black Mozart has a message for the ears, eyes and moves of today’s modern world. Futureman states that this composition, The Black Mozart is a personal statement of New American Classical Roots and Dance Music with social aspirations that embraces all races of humanity. (Read more at Futureman’s Myspace page).

Video by YouTube member Thien10

Get funky on the Outskirts!

Defining Rafal Olbinski as a Surrealist may be a bit too self evident as he is most certainly keeping alive the Surrealist tradition of Salvador Dali and the unconscious conscience of Carl Jung with Olbinski’s fearless and fanciful interpretations of the human experience. Each piece captures a stand-alone fragility and all too potent sense of psychological nakedness with each deliberate stroke and capriciously lucid color.

Olbinski’s illustrations have been a part of a great many publications such as The New Yorker, Playboy, Time, Business Week, Atlantic Monthly, Newsweek and The New York Times among others. His paintings have been exhibited in several world-famous art forums including The Library of Congress Print Collection in Washington, D.C., Carnegie Foundation in New York; Republic New York Corporation; Searle Corporation; Browne and Co., The National Arts Club in New York. He also has contributed to several corporate accounts such as American Airlines, US Trust, 31 Corporation (England) and both the New York City and Cincinnati Opera’s respectively and is prominent in many private collections in the United States, Europe, Asia and South America. (Read a bio at http://www.patinae.com/olbinski.htm).

The Innocence of Courteous Intentions

Exhibition 2

Don Carlos Verde

Manon Lescaut

Mimosa

Siegfred

She Stoops to Folly

All images are copyrighted by Rafal Olbinski 2008.

Surrealism is from the Outskirts!

Writer Alan Moore discusses art as a form of magic. In this clip from the 2003 documentary The Mindscapes of Alan Moore, Moore sees the contemporary view of art as entertainment as a horrid injustice that its magic has powerful influences on the world at large. To Moore, art is a spiritual communion with thoughts, feelings and actions to affect the viewer, watcher or listener in intuitive and unconscious ways. Watch how he expertly compares the artist to a shaman who manipulates words, sounds and images to alter reality and coerce minds.

Video uploaded by Youtube member Rapax02

Notes from the Outskirts: Moore’s notable works include the acclaimed graphic novels Watchmen, V for Vendetta and From Hell.

Thoughts from the Outskirts!