Category Archives: Online Video

Vincent Collins’ Celebration of America at 200 (Hits of Acid)

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WFMU’s Beware of the Blog has posted two very fine streams of ’70s-era animation by one Vincent Collins, a very talented animator that I regret to say I was not previously aware of. Well now I’m much the wiser, and you should be, too.

Of particular wonderment is his fantastic three minute film 200 (1975), Collins’ tribute to the US Bicentennial that was actually financed and distributed by none other than the US Information Agency, which was basically the “white” (open) propaganda fount during the Cold War. Among other things, it is proof positive that times have REALLY changed.

Below is the complete 200 via YouTube thanks to the mighty A/V Geeks. (Props to Michael Bester for his [standards-compliant!] Kimili Flash Plugin for WordPress.)

(Broken video link corrected 1/14/2007)

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/VZRGEYcHMvk" width="450" height="350" fversion="8" useexpressinstall="true" wmode="transparent" /]

The Fritz Lang Papers…in Wyoming? Yup. And Quicktimes, Too, Pardner.

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Photography of Fritz LangWow. Of all places on Earth, who would have guessed that the private papers of German film director Fritz Lang would have wound up at the University of Wyoming? Well, they did — and I sure would love to know the back-story on that one.

Fritz Lang was one of the greatest film directors ever, full stop. Just some of his works include Metropolis (1927), Spione (Spies, 1926 — surprisingly modern to this day), the epic Wiemar-era Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler (Dr. Mabuse, The Gambler, 1922 — with an excellent US edition recently issued by Kino) and the even more masterful early-Nazi-era sequel Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse (The Testament of Dr. Mabuse, 1933), the landmark 2-part epic Die Nibelungen (Siegfried [1924] and Die Krimhelds Rache [Kriemheld's Revenge, 1924]), and the absolutely amazing/horrifying M (1931) which was not only one of the very first German sound films ever made, but also the breathtaking film debut of one Peter Lorre. And that’s not even counting his later (and, alas, much lesser) Hollywood films after fleeing Hitler, such as The Big Heat (1953) and Rancho Notorious (1952).

If you’re a true scholar and make it out Laramie way, you can avail yourself of Lang’s papers (1909 – 1973). For the rest of us, do stop by the online collection of 20 digitized Fritz Lang silent home movies “shot on 16mm film from 1938-1953 as he toured around the American Southwest, capturing images of Tombstone Arizona, Death Valley California, a Hopi Native American Village and what is now the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in Arizona and the White Sands National Monument in New Mexico.”

All are available for download as Quicktime videos.

Quicktime Previews of the New El Topo and Holy Mountain Restorations

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As recently reported here, Alejandro Jodorowsky’s films El Topo and The Holy Mountain are now emerging from the vaults of ABKCO Films for a limited US theatrical run in advance of a deluxe box-set restored release on DVD. (More on this later.)

As also mentioned, the ABKCO Film web site’s homepage features a Flash-ified trailer. Some additional Quicktime clips have begun to surface, including several relatively extended excerpts found on the French film site, AlloCiné. I discovered these clips via Twitch (specifically here and here), “a film news / review / discussion site that pays particular attention to independent, cult, foreign and genre film” — and which had the restoration story way back in May. The Twitch postings provide direct links to the Quicktime files (sans pop-up) for easier downloading.

Here are links to the original AlloCiné postings (en francais), which are embedded in pop-ups: El Topo and La Montagne sacrée (The Holy Mountain).

Just Some Stuff

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Ye olde WFMU Blog has recently posted two Concertos for Jew’s Harp (then known as the guimbarde) composed by Johann Georg Albrechstberger (who once taught some guy named Beethoven) apparently to please his patron, Austrian king Joseph II, who was evidently a fan of the instrument. It’s nice stuff, once one gets past the inevitable giggles from hearing “boing boing twaanggg” amidst the more familiar orchestral arrangements. And why the heck is that thing called a “Jew’s harp” anyway?

There’s also a recent pointer to a jaw-dropping Quicktime VR tour of “Steve’s Weird House,” a Victorian mansion somewhere in Seattle jammed stem to stern with, well, just about everything in the universe (especially if it’s odd). Methinks the man could make a fortune if he charged admission. Must be seen to be believed.

Time Migraine, er, Magazine is currently accepting online voting for their Person of the Year. Candidates include Hugo Chavez, Gee Duh-bya, Kim Jong Il and “the YouTube guys.” Hm.

The reprobate running Seattle’s own Wall of Sound record shoppe recently tipped me to a very fine live 1970 TV performance of “11 Mustachioed Daughters” by biG GRunt (via YouTube), a post-Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band whatsis fronted by Vivian Stanshall (whose very British piece of very surreal comedy, Sir Henry at Rawlinson End (1980), recently appeared on the shelves at Scarecrow Video). Anything featuring a leg-theremin solo and homebrew robot sidemen is worth some peeper time. Btw, the YouTube clip does look better if you use the handy shrinker-izer button. You can learn more about biG GRunt at the Ginger Geezer site (which does not constitute a rabbit). And speaking of Dog Doo-Dahs and biG GRunts, Neil Innes’ web site offers a very fat bowl of MP3 and streaming Real audio floaters, including 8 songs recorded live in Chicago in 2004 and mastered by none other than Pink Bob.

Meanwhile, Pixar has posted all of their short films online for your streaming pleasure.

Also, one Dan Lamoureux is entering post-production on his nerdcore documentary. Like a DQ Blizzard, baby.

But for some real learning, visit the Intergalactic Research – Space is the Place site/blog (or its earlier incarnation at Blogspot), in particular their collection of extremely rare Sun Ra interview and conversation audio. Much of the downloads are only via the thoroughly aggravating and grossly misnamed Rapidshare site, but there is a pointer to a 2 hour interview (in 3 parts, MP4) easily downloadable from the Slought Foundation site. While you’re getting schooled, you should poke around the lengthy discographies at Space is the Place, where you will find many links to choice MP3s…albeit at that dag blasted Rapidshare.

Okay, done now.

And On a Lighter Note…

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Have I mentioned lately that I truly love the WFMU Blog?

Not only have they recently posted an MP3 of a genuine recording of Marie Osmond (yes, that one) performing Hugo Ball’s Dada vocal work “Karawane”, an awesome song by some kids about alien abduction, and some truly excellent animated gifs, they have set a new bar on rarities.

Namely they’ve posted a complete MP3 set of the fabled and long-lost Faust album, Faust V (1975). As the Faust-pages web site explains, “The fabled Faust 5 (or Faust 5½) never saw an official release but exists only in the form of this promotional cassette. After recording material in Munic, the plan was originally for Jochen Irmler and Rudolf Sosna to produce an album from that material for release on Virgin,” which had released Faust IV (recently reissued with an extra CD of alternate takes).

But, as recounted on the WFMU page, while Faust were running up enormous bills at Giorgio Moroder’s studio, Virgin suddenly cut them loose. The essentially completed album vanished into the vaults, inexplicably appearing as the aforementioned promo cassette.

Some of the pieces on the cassette are clearly related to material that appears with much better fidelity on the various (excellent) Faust Tapes releases. But a lot of it is stuff I’ve never heard, and I’ve heard a lot of Faust.

But is that enough? No, not for the mighty WFMU Blog. They also post downloadable video of Faust jamming on stage and in the studio circa 1971 (3 minutes, 20MB mpg), cribbed from a WDR-TV German documentary (auf deutsche), highlights of which were shown in the A/V Lounge at the WFMU Record Fair.

I love you, WFMU Blog. (Sniff.)

Ivor Cutler

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Thanks to the rapidly impending doom of Tower Records, I recently obtained three albums by the one-of-a-kind Scottish avant songwriter and humorist philosopher, Ivor Cutler (born January 15 1923; died March 3 2006). I’d seen the name on Fred Frith’s discography (as he contributed some viola to Velvet Donkey), but I first checked him out thanks to a video clip of him performing “Shop Lifters” with harmonium on The Old Grey Whistle Test posted on the WFMU Blog.

Here’s some links about him.

Official site
www.ivorcutler.org

Video
www.youtube.com/results?search_query=ivor+cutler&search=Search

A Discography
www.issue.demon.co.uk/poetry/cutler/record/

Obituary
www.guardian.co.uk/obituaries/story/0,,1725211,00.html

Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivor_Cutler

“I’m Going in a Field” from the album Ludo (1967):
I’m going in a field,
I’m going in a field,
I’m going in a field,
To lie down.

I’ll lie beside the grass,
I’ll lie beside the grass,
I’ll lie beside the green grass,

I’m going in a field,
I’m going in a field,
I’m going in a field,
To lie down.

Yellow flower,
In the grass,
Yellow flower,
In the grass.

I’m going in a field,
I’m going in a field,
I’m going in a field,
To lie down.

My lovers eyes are blue,
I’m going in a field,
To lie down.

Green grass,
Yellow flower,
My lovers eyes are blue

I’m going in a field.

Declassified CIA Documentary on Secret Corona Spy Satellite Program

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Visiting The Memory Hole, I noticed they’ve posted digitized copies of A Point in Time, a 1972 hour-long top-secret documentary about the Corona spy satellite program. Produced by the CIA, it covers the entire history of the Corona program, and includes engineers’ footage as well as interviews. The film was not declassified until the mid-1990s (along with many other Corona materials) and while it was shown at a CIA-sponsored Corona history conference in 1995, it has remained almost completely unseen by the general public. This digital capture is from a VHS copy received directly from the National Archives.

The CIA documentary, which is public domain, as well as video proceedings from the 1995 conference, have been posted to Archive.org in Quicktime and MP4 (both streaming and static formats). Alas, the highest resolution offered is only 320 x 240, and there is no DVD-friendly MP2 copy. All the same, looks to be very worthwhile viewing — like time travelling to 1972 and getting a top-secret briefing. Pardon me, but is your shoe ringing?