A Tangerine Dream Collection

After Klaus Schulze left to do his own incredible solo work (post coming next week), Tangerine Dream spent 1971-1975 putting out their four best albums: Zeit, Atem, Phaedra, and Rubycon. Here's one track from each, because these songs are lo-o-ong. They're in consecutive order. When hearing this work, it's understandable that core member Edgar Froese started as a sculptor and apprenticed with Salvador Dali; it's wonderfully evocative, tactile and surreal. The Tangerine Dream that was to later make soundtracks for Risky Business and hundreds of other bad movies was a whole other deal (not worse, just different. I like their corny synthy stuff from the eighties as well).

Progress?

1953 2005

RetroTech: The Scopitone

Built in France from spare aircraft parts after world war II, The Scopitone was a coin-operated jukebox that projected 16mm films. After catching on throughout Europe, they were distributed in the USA, and the first music videos were soon being shot exclusively for the format. The machines were most often found in bars, so the content was more risque than what could be found on television, and today serves as an archive of the fading burlesque era. But it never quite found success in the states. This was due to distribution problems with the mafia, and the campy films seemed dated as psychedelic culture became more commonplace. The machines disappeared by the end of the 60's. Listen here to a short NPR story about one of the last working Scopitone machines, here and here for a couple of my favorite films, here for a huge archive of shorts, and I can't help but repost this superlative film starring the Queen of the Scopitones, the talentless Joi Lansing:

Sounds From The Wheaton, Illinois, Breakin' Scene Circa 1983

In 1983, my cousins and I scoured the cold, unforgiving streets of suburban Wheaton, Illinois (median household income $73,385, 89.8% Caucasian) for discarded cardboard boxes until we had collected enough to convert the entire floor of their basement into a breakin' paradise. In the shadow of the Billy Graham Center and the DuPage County Republican Headquarters, we formed our own "crew." We had street names, we had our ghetto-blasters, we had the tunes, we mixed the tunes, and we choreographed dance routines. I distinctly recall having a routine for each of the following tracks. Yes, photo and video evidence of this phase in my life exists, but fortunately, none of it has managed to leak into the digital world.

Which Came First?

The Droste Effect

Named after the Dutch Droste company’s famous cocoa packaging in which “the nurse on the package carries a plate with a package, on which there is the same package, etc, etc..”

I was reminded of this when I saw these pictures of Shari Lewis.

Which is reality? Which is the illusion???

PIZZA TEEN! Readers Poll Results

QUESTION: Little Miss Muffet sat on...

• Bebe's kids! 50%
• Lyle Lovett. 30%
• Lou Reed's mullet. 10%
• my painting of Martin Sheen. 10%
• the carcass. 0%
• el chupacabra! 0%
• the McDonald's Dollar Menu. 0%
• the punky QB known as McMahon. 0%
• a tuffet. 0%

Be sure to vote in the current poll!

10 Noteworthy Characters From The Call Of Cthulhu Roleplaying Game Archives

Dungeons & Dragons may be the most famous roleplaying game, but among my friends, Call Of Cthulhu-- an easy-to-learn horror game based upon the weird short stories of H.P. Lovecraft-- was the game of choice. What makes it special is that you portray an average dope with the best of intentions who finds his or her self coming face to face with mysteries and forces well beyond his or her comprehension and abilities. In most roleplaying games, you portray superhuman wizards or warriors; in Call of Cthulhu, you portray librarians and professors. An excellent credit rating is almost always more valuable to your survival than your ability to cut a guy in half with an axe. Rare indeed is the Call of Cthulhu character who, at the conclusion of two investigations into the unknown, is not insane, crippled or dead. A well-aimed rock or a whack to the back of the head with a flashlight can take a character out of the game in an instant, so players have to be extra cautious. It's this kind of realistic frailty which adds to the suspense. Here's a fun video review of the game. This is the original 72-minute "Terror Of Cthulhu" soundtrack, an ambient mix I created for our games which would play on repeat at a low volume in the background. Click here to download. And below are 10 characters from the days when we all lived near enough to one another and had time enough to play this game. Half of the characters are noted as either dead or insane. The most infamous of all is the last one, "Dacey." Surely, it is worthy of being framed. This is a character who, either through luck (unlikely) or an occasional dishonest die roll (likely), managed to survive four or more games and become a major pain in the ass while his ever-changing roster of companions dropped like flies. He also looks vaguely like Stexe. I was running the game, and although I was always fair, I admit that even I got to a point where I was rooting for his demise.

A PIZZA TEEN! WTF?! Photo Of The Day

People are so goddamn strange! Have we not already humiliated animals thoroughly enough? Look at the expression on the face of the terrier in the second photo. I know it's only a stuffed doo-dad manufactured by slaves in China, but nonetheless, it manages to provoke overwhelming despair and pity. Sooner or later, the 10 o'clock news will bring you the story of the psychotic mongoloid child who saw her psychotic mongoloid mom with one of these on her shoulder and decided to create one of her own by taking a hobby knife to the spine of the family's dachshund.