If you liked the last stuff with the keyboards, you'll love this! Or, perhaps, not. Long before Devo did their devo thing, there was Kraftwerk. In some ways, I suppose they could be seen as a Teutonic Devo, although, it is more probably that Devo is an American Kraftwerk. With their hypnotic music, lyrical discussions of robots in German, and snappy makeup and outfits, it makes me want to get a really skinny tie, shave my beard, slick back my hair, and move in a jerky manner. Isn't that cool? Seventies Germany rocks - so unemotional and mannequin-esque. Just like me!
People like to suggest, sometimes, that I am some sort of acid burnt wacko, a persona that I, sometimes, encourage perhaps. However, if youtube had been around when I was doing chemical alterations to my psyche, THIS kind of video would have made me a prime candidate for a rubber room and arm and leg restraints. Hell, it's freaky enough WITHOUT drugs; I couldn't imagine watching this already out of my mind! Of course, I have watched it repeatedly today!
You know me - I like all sorts music, high brow and low brow. But this video just makes my bowels and nads hurt with an unimaginable horror - no wonder punk music needed to happen and happened when it did! "But, wait," you might say, "I thought you liked bands like the Osmonds!?! Aren't they similar?" I won't quibble on that point - both bands are somewhat of the same ilk. HOWEVER, the Osmonds were musical geniuses, a Mormon Beatles, if you will. They mined the depths and heights of our emotions and imaginations, making this world a better, kinder, and stronger place. They played their instruments AND danced AND sang AND smiled AND all the while searched for ways to end world hunger, fight Communist Aggression, and pursue the race to land a man-made vehicle on Mars. The band in this video, on the other hand, was so obviously only in it for the money - how else do you explain someone voluntarily playing this kind of garbage and doing so in public on television? For the joy of the music and the ability to entertain? HELL NO! Money, pure and simple, is the source of this horse manure! So, go tell "the Man" to honk on bubba for foisting crap like this onto us! Enjoy!
It has just been reported that the Space Shuttle Endeavour has landed safely, after lengthy debate about whether it would even be able to land after a small piece of its ever fragile heat shield broke off during the liftoff. Is it just me, or is this becoming such a regular event that we need a special correspondent on the news devoted to just Shuttle gossip? It would seem to me that if your reusable space vehicle is in such dangerous and sorry condition that a baby fart can knock off the protective cover, then it is probably time to start looking for a new space vehicle. Look at the Russians and their vehicle - a disposable meat and potatoes machine that has changed little since the sixties. Less cargo room to be sure, but cheaper launches, less headaches, less hand wringing, and more opportunities to call space travelers "cosmonauts." Yet again, another reason to bring back the Cold War...
Seriously, why is it that they don't make good (or even bad) post-apocalyptic motion pictures anymore? Is it because we ain't still fighting the Russkies? Where are the Omega Man, Planet of the Apes (not Tim Burton's), or Soylent Green of our generation? Or Logan's Run or Clockwork Orange? Or even a good radiation-filled, happening film that examines man's inhumanity to man through the interplay of scantily clad nuclear holocaust amazons riding big motorbikes with razor sharp horns while they hunt down the scientist males who possess the unclean technology? That actually sounds like a promising film...
I suppose that the Mad Max films serve as a living bridge to the Heston armageddon series, albeit with a more nihilistic overtone than the 1970s films. But, even after having watched a few minutes of the first movie the other night on the late show, I believe that the original Mad Max was a kick-ass movie, kinda like Bullit in the outback after the breakdown of societal restraint and the rejection by law enforcement to actually obey the laws they enforce. And, yes, there were several approximations of this genre by other auteurs, all with screaming cars, buxom mohawked women, and angry anti-heros. But why not now?
Of course, the eighties and early nineties saw a raft of Blade Runner rip-offs which, even with bad movies like Johnny Mnemonic, had a certain appeal that frightened and delighted me at the same time. To be sure, Blade Runner as an action film is pretty boring. But, it is visually stunning, with its imagery of decay and modernity coupled together in such a way that is hard to soon forget, especially if you like seeing Rutger Hauer all slick and menacing (makes me want to wear my hair all spiked up).
Although, speaking of hair and my fear that I may now look like a reject from an eighties film, I think one of the most underrated post-apocalyptic movies from the eighties has to be Footloose. I mean, think about it - (1) stranger comes to repressive town that is isolated from the rest of the world (due to Reagan's foreign and domestic economic policies), (2) stranger has new paradigm for doing things in this repressive society (dance, dance, dance is the revolution solution), (3) stranger uses extra-ordinary physical prowess to enable him to function in a world ripped apart by divisive notions of the future and past ("You better run, city boy, cuz we're gonna mess you up!"), (4) stranger triumphs in such a way that the pyrrhic victory he has accomplished is meaningless and of little consequence ("Now we get to dance and shake our asses any time we damn well please!"). As you can see, Footloose is essentially Road Warrior in middle America. Except without cars. Or crossbow-toting maniacs. But, other than that, Footloose is a shot for shot homage!
So, what the GSHA needs to do is make a new post-apocalyptic film for the new millenium. Maybe even a series, like the Mad Max films, with opportunities for residual profits from toy and commemorative drink glass campaigns at the fast food franchises. The wheels in my head are spinning with ideas - all we need is a title. How about Gender and Power in Rural China: The Aftermath (happens to be the book I am reading right now, but I added the aftermath part)?
Every so often, PBS shows reruns of the most joyous show ever produced. Julius Sumner Miller, a wonderfully eccentric mad scientist, demonstrated how science worked. 83% of the time, his experiments didn't work that way he had intented. But that didn't matter! He used the unintended results of failed experiments as an opportunity to show some other concept. What a pro!
