These incredible time lapse sequences are pieced together from thousands of photographs taken aboard the International Space Station by crew members and photographers of Expeditions 28 & 29 (August through October of 2011) at an altitude of approximately 217 miles above sea level.
A short film for your Veteran’s Day, Pythagasaurus comes to us from Aardman Animations, best known for their series, as well as doing the video for Peter Gabriel’s “Sledgehammer”, as well as the upcoming Arthur Christmas. Pythagasaurus tells the story of Ig and Uk (voiced by Bill Bailey and Martin Trenaman, respectively) who, upon discovering a volcano has popped up outside their hut, decide to call upon the the titular Pythagasaurus (Simon Greenall), a dinosaur renowned for his mathematical acumen and knowledge of all eight numbers. It’s three minutes of sublime absurdity with a surprise, twist ending. Enjoy!
This week’s installment of BTC comes to us courtesy of the ineffable cinematic WTF-fest that is The Forbidden Zone. Take it away, Susu…
Directed by Richard Elfman, TFZ stars real life ex-lovers Hervé Villechaize and Susan Tyrrell (who steals the show with the above number, which she wrote the lyrics for herself!) along with various members of the Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo. TFZ also features the first full-length film score by Richard’s younger brother, Danny Elfman, along with Warhol Superstar Viva, B-movie maniac Joe Spinell, performance art duo the Kipper Kids, and the pioneering street dance troupe, The Lockers.
Made on a shoestring over the course of three years in the early eighties, TFZ is “basically a filmed version of what we were doing on stage with the Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo,” Richard Elfman said when Coilhouse interviewed him last year. “As the group was becoming less ‘theatrical’ and more rock based, I wanted to preserve on film the essence of what we had been doing on stage.” Elfman’s final cut is reflective all of the funniest, weirdest, most brazen and poignant attributes of ‘Boingo.
You can read all about this subterranean cult classic in Issue Six of the magazine, which will probably sell out of our web store pretty soon, so don’t put off buying your copy if you want to learn more about the on and offscreen adventures of Queen Doris, King Fausto, Squeezit Henderson the Chicken Boy, Frenchy and Renee.
This week’s BTC is dedicated to two darlings: firstly, to our brave and steadfast Circulation Director, Gretta Sherwood, who will be mailing off thousands of copies of the magazine over the coming weeks, and secondly, to Wiley Wiggins, who got Coilhouse a quote from Queen Doris herself for the magazine article. Gret and Wiley are both celebrating birthdays this week! Big love and gratitude to each of you beauties.
“Canon 60d, Canon digital rebel, Canon 5dII, shot as slow as 1 shot every 15 seconds and as fast as 6.5fps frames per second. Canon 90mm Tilt shift lens and a 17-35mm lens. Mumford Stepper Table and Time-machine for motion control.” (Via Ariana Osborne, thanks!)
This epic twenty-minute tilt shift video was shot at the gargantuan Burning Man festival earlier this year by James Cole, with additional motion-controlled time-lapse by Jason Phipps and Byron Mason. It’s a particularly vibrant window through which to observe the surreal bustle of Black Rock City. Whether you’re pro or anti-dubstep/techno, the accompanying music, provided by Elite Force and the DISTRIKT , feels wompingly apt. Fantastic editing.
Soundtrack is the song “Fantasy”, from DyE’s album TAKI 183.
Running internal monologue: Tee hee, this is naughty. I see tushie. Lookit those cartoon teens gettin’ all softcore in da pool. Aww, that poor girl doesn’t want to be there. Wait… whaaa? What’s that… w-w-what’s… what’s happening…. WHAAAA THAAA FAAAAAA… nnnnnNNNNNNAAAAAHHH. AHHHHHH, MY EYES. AAAAHHH. CAN’T UNSEEEEEE.
A charming little animated film by Vic Chhun, Leyla Kaddoura, and Nicolas Ughen, Poussière (Dust), as it’s name implies, tells the story of a piece of dust and its travels. This story intertwines with that of a farmer but just how is for you to discover. The animation itself is accomplished; the characters showing a wealth of emotion with using an economy of movement and the scenery in which they find themselves are beautifully rendered. I will say that, if there is any flaw here, it is in the presentation of the last bit of story. I’ve watched this three or four times now, and I can’t help but feel that an important piece of information is missing from the film’s final sequence. Of course, my being incredibly dense isn’t out of the question either.
Sometimes, band names are misleading. Could it be that the music crafted by this studiously proggy/jazzy/metallic post-rock power trio from New York City is actually clean, wholesome fun for the whole family?
No. Oh, good heavens! Just…. no. Protect your young, impressionable offspring from Child Abuse! At the very least, make sure they wear earplugs / listen at a responsible volume. Tut tut! Flavorpill described the band thusly:
“Child Abuse is the logical result of an entire generation raised by Nintendo and overbearing, Tipper Gore-admiring moms. “Reading is for people who don’t vomit, and Morbid Angel lives in my closet next to my porno!” the band seems to shout with its avalanche of Casio squeals, death-metal percussion, and forgot-to-take-my-Thorazine howls.”
Reviewer Steve Bunche called the hijinks of bassist Tim Dahl, drummer Oran Canfield, and keyboardist/vocalist Luke Calzonetti “the aural equivalent of a root canal.” The power trio’s 2010 album Cut and Run was met with much uncomfortable squirming and gruffly befuddled approval by independent press. It’s a sturdy, bristling sonic assault.
All that said, the following music video for “Cut and Run” might very well be one of the most mesmerizing, unsettling, strangely beautiful ephemera collages you’ve seen in a while:
Céline Desrumaux‘s fantastic animated short “Countdown” details, as one might expect from the title, the launch of a rocket. The style here is a combination of flat colors and hard, almost architectural lines, as though it had leapt straight from the pages of Popular Mechanics circa 1958, along with some character animation by Florent Remize. Desrumaux (who is one half of Céline & Yann who produced the delightful series “The Giants”) cites Chris Ware as an influence and that is, indeed, the first person that comes to mind. “Countdown” has a heart-pounding, frenetic quality to it, combining almost abstract shots of dials, meters , and light; and shots of the rocket as it prepares to launch, cropped down into the square, vignetted look associated with, at least, the older exterior NASA footage. All of this is set to the harried pace of Apprat‘s “Granulard bastard”. It all makes for a gripping three and a half minutes.
Yeah, admittedly, we’re a little late to the party re: this amazeballs Beauty and the Beast parody by Micah McCain. But it’s just too good NOT to post as a BTC, and surely, not all of you have experienced the spiffiness yet. Bonjour!
