Worst. Spy Movie. Ever.

1) Incoherent script.

2) Lame humor.

3) No chemistry between Peck and Loren.

4) Primary villain looks like Peter Sellers as Inspector Clousseau.

5) Sophia Loren as an Arab.

6) Gregory Peck takes a psychedelic trip on a bicycle.

7) Secondary villain uses term "daddy-o" excessively.

8) Poison eyedrops.

Family of the Mystic Arts

I have a friend who's a couple of decades older than me. Recently, he happened to mention that his daughter, when a teenager in the Sixties, had been a member of a hippie commune in Oregon, the Family of the Mystic Arts. He recalled that Life magazine had done a photospread on the commune back then.

I remarked that all of Life's photos were now online.

We found several photos. (Alas, his daughter is not pictured.)

One is posted below.

For the other two, I'm directing you to the Life archives, rather than reproduce them here.

Why?

Because they feature bare-breasted female children.

Yes, that's right. Due to the prevailing cultural insanity, this blog cannot safely feature photos which a general-interest G-rated magazine that sold millions of copies each week could show forty years ago.

So here's a little tribute to a more innocent and less paranoid time, when "weird" was almost the dominant cultural mode.

Offending Photo No. 1

Offending Photo No. 2

Johnny Preston:  2 Xmas Songs

Soviet Space Stamps

These were sent to me by my Belgian pal Peter Dans-
saert.

Click on the image twice, to get them really big!

Follies of the Mad Men #49

[From Playboy magazine for October 1965.]

If you wear one of our sweaters, you'll look like a ridiculous chimp.

"Me Retailer, you Jerk!"

ADDENDUM: Reader Vern notes that the text ridicules the chimp as wearing an older, out-of-style sweater, while the man sports the manufacturer's sleek new model. That's a good point. Nonetheless, how convincing is the comparison, when the human's rival is a monkey?

The Front Line

As we all prepare for our imminent minimum-wage jobs during the economic meltdown, let us study how to perform them to the best of our abilities, with a cheerful smile. Consider the job of "supermarket checker," circa 1965.

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg

Opera is inherently weird: people singing their every speech. But with classical opera, one doesn't notice the effect so much, since they've always been around.

But relatively recent operas, especially with contemporary settings, somehow magnify the weirdness.

Take, for instance, 1964's THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG. A simple love story, it features a script in which every single line is sung. Thus, at about the 3:30 mark in the opening clip below, you can hear the immortal lyric, "Check the ignition on the gentleman's Mercedes."

Apparently, the entire film is available on YouTube in nine parts, for your operatic enjoyment.

The Chattanooga Twist

I'll bet you never knew what song Chattanooga Hookers like to dance to, did you?

What else but 1962's "The Chatanooga Twist," by Danyel Gerard!




Here's DG's other big hit.

The Bad Sleep Well

We've been alerted to the serial killer in Japan who's taking revenge for corporate fraud, as described in this article in today's NY TIMES. But what no one seems to have noticed is that we've already seen this scenario in a film. THE BAD SLEEP WELL is one of Akira Kurosawa's masterpieces, and details how a man whose father was killed by corrupt businessmen exacts his revenge. Here's the excellent trailer.

The Golden Years

A look at the glory days of Homer Simpson's favorite sport. At least from the point-of-view of a certain manufacturer....

All original content in posts is Copyright © 2008 by the author of the post, either Alex Boese ("Alex"), Paul Di Filippo ("Paul"), or Chuck Shepherd ("Chuck"). All rights reserved. The banner illustration at the top of this page is Copyright © 2008 by Rick Altergott.