On a recent intercontinental Skype call, overwhelmed by a dozen disparate tasks and simultaneous preparations for conducting her most high profile Coilhouse interview to date with a certain world-famous filmmaker, Nadya expressed some anxiety and uncertainty to Mer. Mer’s reply, paraphrased: “Nadya, you may look like some fragile, doe-eyed forest creature, but everyone knows you’re an iron fist cast in velvet. You’re gonna nail it all to the floor. Baby, you’re the Bambinator.”
And so it was that a new nickname was born. Definitely fits, right?
Artist’s rendering of Nadya Lev! (Actually, no, it’s Lisa Black taxidermy. But still.) COME WITH ME IF YOU WANT TO BLOG.
Nadya did indeed nail that interview to the floor. Can’t tell you anything more about it quite yet, but it’s guaranteed to be one of our most fascinating and high-profile features to date, you’ll see! It’s been great to share Nadya’s joy and excitement over this particular success, perhaps because we recognize that a lot of the work that she does for Coilhouse has traditionally been the least glamorous and the most thankless, most time-consuming and wallet-robbing. Behind-the-scenes stuff.
This year especially, she’s really gone down into the trenches for us, managing the majority of the Coilhouse empire’s recent growing pains: advertising, financing, digital mag formatting training, merchandise and content development, staff restructuring and expansion, publisher and distributor re-negotiations. Additionally, our girl’s kept up her usual globe-trotting antics for that other full-time job of hers, and even found time to help build a huge-ass interactive kinetic sculpture in her nonexistent spare time.
We are so proud of our wee Bambinator. We can’t wait to see what the future holds for her, and for Coilhouse.
The Klaxons and director Saam Farahmand would like you to reconsider the benefits and implications of polyamory, and they’re using the music video format to do so. Or maybe they’re just trying to make you squirm. Whatever the case, peep this video for “Twin Flames” – it’s like soft-core porn for the Cronenberg generation. The only thing missing? Tentacles.
Last week, we blogged about our wonderful Small-Business Advertisers. Today, we’d like to honor and give thanks to our five full-page advertisers from Issue 05. Thank you to Black Phoenix Alchemy Labs, Fluevog Shoes, Frenzy Universe, Swatch and Zivity. Two learn more about the businesses that support us, and receive some discounts for Coilhouse readers, venture beyond the cut!
Earlier this year, North Korea let a bunch of international journalists in to document evidence of the country’s enormous, throbbing doom cock. Apparently the military parade was part of a campaign to establish Kim Jong-il’s youngest son as ruler-in-waiting. This stunning slow-motion footage (shot on high end Canon60D and 1DmkIV camera with a smooth-tracking pocket dolly) was captured by UK Guardian reporters. Shortly thereafter, Galaxygamma came up with the completely unsettling idea of juxtaposing the “Hell March” theme from Command & Conquer: Red Alert with the Guardian’s footage.
Today is the Friday after Thanksgiving here in the US, which of course means that once again the Salespocalypse has descended upon this fair nation. Even now the fields are being decimated by swarms of bargains and the rivers run red with savings. While we here at the FAM do not partake in this yearly consumer orgy, content to huddle in our cell deep underground, far away from the lamentations of the trampled, we understand that there may be some among our readership who cannot resist the primal, thrifty Siren call of Great Deals.
Should you be among those who make it out alive we invite you to sit down, relax, and put the images of that helpless little girl out of your mind. No need to revisit the scene. No need to remember her cries of pain or recall the look of horror and resignation that came across her face right before that obese woman’s Jazzy crushed her skull. Here, have a look at some wonderful cartoons. To ease your guilt we give you Don Hertzfeldt’s amazing animated short Rejected. Watch it; it’s pretty funny. There you go, you just forget about that poor girl. I’m sure her family will be fine and, after all, they did wind up beating you to that very cheap HDTV. They came out ahead really. I mean, they can always make another daughter but when are you ever going to be able to get a 52″ plasma for under $600.00?
Yesterday, Peter Martin Christopherson, a.k.a. Sleazy, died suddenly in his sleep. He was 55. A founding member of Throbbing Gristle and Coil, as well a solo artist in his own right, Sleazy leaves behind an incredibly rich musical legacy and a great deal of gutted friends and fans. This shocking news comes just a month after the remaining members of Throbbing Gristle announced their regrouping under the name, X-TG, following Genesis P-Orridge’s departure.
Sleazy’s contributions to music and culture are immeasurable. From naked stage antics with Throbbing Gristle as one of the founding fathers of the industrial genre back in the mid-70s, to starting Psychic TV with Genesis P-Orridge and forming the intense, dark, trailblazing Coil with his partner, Johnn Balance, in the 80s, Sleazy has always been a fervent innovator. He designed iconic album covers, built his own instruments, created countless radical videos, spoke out against homophobia, and when Balance passed away after they spent over twenty years together, Sleazy held it together and started The Threshold HouseBoys Choir – a music project featuring computer-generated vocals and video. He continued creating until the very end.
In one of his most recent interviews, Sleazy said:
If I can die knowing I’ve helped put a few of us outsiders in touch, helping one another, particularly helping pass on what we know to other new people, and encouraging each other to be more proud of who they are, I will be a happy man.
Experimental musical duo The Books are highly thoughtful and empathic scavengers and re-interpreters who’ve been surprising and delighting audiences for over a decade now. Paul de Jong and Nick Zammuto’s songs –a strange melange of acoustic melodies (cello, guitar, banjo, etc.) spliced together with an ever-expanding library of “found sounds”– are dense with samples lifted from home recording cassettes plundered from thrift stores, as well as bootlegged video tapes. They also cut and paste sounds recorded from children’s toys and random non-musical objects to create looping percussive beds. The resulting music is off-kilter yet tightly controlled, and often unexpectedly danceable.
This chaos-wrangling, ephemera-pillaging style is well-represented visually by the music video for “Cold Freezin’ Night”, a weird 80s schoolyard disco taunt off their latest album, The Way Out:
via Dustykins once again. (Girl, you really gotta start blogging for us!)
On Monday, Coilhouse posted a news item about a Mother of London knock-off worn by Willow Smith to the American Music Awards. There’s been an update! Widely-read pop culture blog JustJared has reported that the person responsible for the yellow replica is Brea Stinson (@breabstar on Twitter), a fashion stylist represented by Balan, Inc. Coilhouse has been unable to reach Stinson for comment.
Meanwhile, stylist Mariel Haenn, who’s often been credited with dressing Smith in the past, and who was mentioned as a possible suspect due to that styling connection, was not involved in the wardrobe-sourcing or creation of this garment in any way. Haenn and her stylist partner, Rob Zangardi, were responsible solely for crafting Rihanna’s look for the AMA’s.
Huge, heartfelt apologies to Mariel and her team, and thanks to Jared for getting to the bottom of this styling mystery.
Coming from such an educationally backwards country I appreciate this brief history of the USSR told with the aide of LEGO mini-figs which explains that much of the Soviet Union’s establishment was the product of a strong desire for kisses. Likewise, “Everybody was afraid of him because of his moustaches that were tickling.” really helps put the brutal regime of Joseph Stalin into perspective.
Ah, Ingrid Pitt. Lovely lady of the eternal night. You were something else, something special and rare. In an era when most actresses with your theatrical aspirations (and world class bosom) were clamoring to be Mary Sues, you became Madame Bathory. You were brave, you were brazen– a survivor and a sex bomb and an joyful ham. We loved you for that.
Ed Brubaker’s comment on your passing: “All nerd boners are at half-mast today” would most likely have delighted you greatly, rather than offended. Of Hammer’s cult following and your own near-mythic status as his reigning scream queen, you once said “it is divine, because people just love them; it reconfirms me and it keeps me alive for ever — like the vampires I play.”
Sleep well, Countess. Thanks for all of the scares, titillations, and smiles.
