Talk about missing the point of Squid Game
5 Likes
Iāll do my best to reserve judgement until I know more. I enjoyed the Dark Crystal prequel series on Netflix just fine. (Spoiler: puppets performing a puppet show!) Of course I never liked the original Dark Crystal movie quite as much as Labyrinth so I guess it was a lower bar to clear.
1 Like
The Dark Crystal show was a long time coming though, it was public knowledge that they were trying to make it. I remember visiting the website talking about it 
so to me that was definitely a passion project. I canāt say much about a possible Labyrinth sequel, it could be good and i hope it is but the odds arenāt great.
2 Likes
Certainly could have turned out worse:
3 Likes
Not usually a fan of biographies, but I happened on this one the other night and put it on for something to watch before I fell asleep.
From just the first few minutes, the music stuck in my head, and I came back and watched the rest of it tonight. It was interesting, I didnāt know how much trouble heād gotten into or I guess just how much influence heād had beyond just the early years of rock.
7 Likes
Now I want a proofing press. Where the heck would I put it?
8 Likes
cool!
sounds rather basic, but i would still watch that, if i can find it here.
letterpress printing is my jam! itās what i do.
6 Likes
Holy shitā¦ has anyone seen this movieā¦
It was absolutely batshit in the best way possibleā¦ completely and utterly bonkersā¦
14 Likes
yes!
excitingly bonkers with a dose of cumupence for toxic men.
thoroughly enjoyed Chloe Grace Moretz in the lead.
10 Likes
Almost the first half of the film is her stuck in that turret or whatever itās called, having to listen to dudes being misogynistic assholes towards her. That was quite well, done, I thought. But the very end, where, after beating the gremlin to death, she just whips our her tit and starts feeding the baby was amazingā¦ that and when she got exploded BACK into the plane after saving the baby by CRAWLING UPSIDE DOWN IN THE MIDDLE OF A FIGHT AND WITH THAT GREMLINā¦ I meanā¦ holy shit!!!
9 Likes
Aah you might be a little disappointed then, it is no deep dive, but a skim on the surface that reminded me how much I enjoyed letterpress. There are brief diversions, like the hunt for the Doves type, but, like so many appreciations of crafts, it is designed to appeal to a wider audience than true geeks for a subject. That said, I did enjoy the others in the series too ā mosaics, blacksmithing and stone-carving ā each of which I have dipped a toenail in.
4 Likes
A proofing press is huge, but a letterpress is much smaller.
5 Likes
mum and i enjoyed a nice divertissement last night. we watched this:
a lovely distraction from the heavier fare we usually take in.
great cast of voice actors, including Lupita Nyongo, Pedro Pascal and Bill Nighy (among other notables).
sweet, saccharin even, but just what was called for after a week of fried nerves.
highly recommend.
we rented on AppleTV. you can rent on Prime, if you are not allergic to the Bezos companyā¦
edit: pardon my french
12 Likes
I thought about renting it the other night. A friend went to see it a while ago and told me it was really good. I could probably use a movie like that after this week.
9 Likes
do yourself a favor.
the rental was $5.99 usd.
i feel it was worth it for the two of us. sometimes we need the sweet-n-low to really āget awayā.
10 Likes
What a beautiful, inspiring movie. And what a way for Ken Loach to end his magnificent career. I loved it.
7 Likes
Our Bodies, Our Meat: Films by Alice Anne Parker (aka Anne Severson)
Shorts from a feminist filmmaker from the late ā60s to mid ā70s who doesnāt seem (to me) to get the attention she deserves, except, to a certain extent, for one specific film.
This is apparently all of her film work. (The IMDb lists one other film, Womenās Rites or Truth Is the Daughter of Time, but that film is actually from Barbara Hammer, another feminist filmmaker worth getting to know.)
Besides Kanopy, these films are also available from Alexander Street, a service potentially available from your local university, but I think Kanopy generally provides better quality. Kanopy is free, if a library you have access to provides it.
Naughtiness has been blurred.
I Change I Am the Same (1969)
Summary
Anne and her lover/co-director Shelby Kennedy stand and sit motionlessly before the camera. In a series of quick cuts, they lose items of clothing, swap clothing and swap places.
Cute, although at less than 30 seconds it goes by a little too quickly to make a strong impact.
Riverbody (1970)
Summary
A series of shots of 87 female and male full frontal nudes dissolving into each other.
Rather better, although the soundtrack, nothing but the sound of waves, is a bit too lulling for my taste. B. Ruby Rich says āThe filmās fascination lies with the suspense of that magic moment, halfway between two persons, when the dissolve technique produces composite figures, oftentimes hermaphroditic, that inspires awe for the mystery of the human form.ā
Near the Big Chakra (1970)
Summary
Close-ups of 37 human vulvas, ranging in age from three months to 56 years.
To the extent that she is remembered, this is probably her most remembered film. I rate it from boring to fascinating, depending on my mood. Agnes Varda was quite keen on it. I wonder if it influenced her RĆ©ponse de femmes.
Introduction to Humanities (1972)
Summary
Seversonās first year Humanities class at the San Francisco Art Institute introduce and re-introduce themselves to the camera and try to avoid bumping into a tree.
A nice change from all of the voiceless nudity. Severson felt the film complemented Near the Big Chakra and should always be shown immediately after.
Animals Running (1974)
Summary
And swimming. And crawling. And flying. From bison to birds to rabbits to microscopic organisms in an uninterrupted parade of nature footage.
This is quite possibly my favorite. The footage, probably shot mostly, if not completely, by others, unless she got one hell of a grant, may not match todayās HD work, but itās still lovely, well edited, and all held together by the directorās simple but charming metallophone(?) stylings.
The Struggle of the Meat (1974)
Summary
Unused footage from Animals Running is over-exposed, looped and otherwise manipulated while the title is continually repeated.
Also very good fun. Probably left out of the earlier film as the footage was much less Arcadian, with scavengers, stampedes, and more noticeable predation.
19 Bygone Sweethearts (1973)
Summary
Severson and her co-director beau, David Boatwright, reminisce about their various ex-lovers.
My other possible favorite. Mostly cobbled together from home movie footage, it gives an evocative but indistinct/incomplete portrait of their circle and its mostly bohemian milieu. Not actually her final film, it was probably placed last because it feels very much like a summing up.
6 Likes
Letterpress and proofing presses come in all shapes and sizes, I would suggest a proofing press is easier to store, to setup a job on and maintain.
I am thinking of something like this
And although that is fairly small, it is only part of what you need to store/install.
8 Likes
Yes! Loved it! Utterly bonkers as you say, and maddest Kiwi film since Peter Jacksonās early films (Bad Tate, Meet the Feebles).
9 Likes
Right; I see now.
At this point, Iām just using a spoon/baren, and have no press at all. Someone on the printmaking subreddit said that they bought a Vevor manual cold roll laminator and have been using that as a press and getting really, really clean lino prints from it, and it cost them about $150 (ymmv depending on your location; it would cost me closer to $200), which is less than most presses of the same size on the market.
8 Likes